


What Goes Around...

by The_Raptor_Queen



Series: The Technopath [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types
Genre: AI Kisara, Basically not friendly to the Rogue Avengers!, Kisara Friday and the Stark robots are little shits, May form part of a new series, Minor Original Character(s), Not Canon Compliant, Not Steve Rogers friendly!, Not Wanda Maximoff friendly!, Original characters used to bring retribution, Technopath Kaiba Seto, Technopathy, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-02-09 20:28:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18645523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Raptor_Queen/pseuds/The_Raptor_Queen
Summary: What goes around, comes around.With Tony still recovering from Siberia, Seto makes a list of those responsible for his friend being left there and, with the help of various allies, sets out to bring them to justice in any way he can.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Calling you out!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18270659) by [Thunderbirdswolvesandlilacs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderbirdswolvesandlilacs/pseuds/Thunderbirdswolvesandlilacs). 



> So I have seen 'Endgame' but please don't be that person who tries to post spoilers for it. I'll be moderating the comments for the next few weeks to avoid any being posted here but that's still not the point. It's rude and inconsiderate.  
> This fic (and any others from this point on) are not compliant with Civil War onwards. I've created an original country in this story (it comes into play from the first chapter) so I might actually write a series based on that. The reason they exist will be explained next chapter.  
> Anything you recognise is not mine!

**_Prologue_ **

    Bathed in the dim light from a computer screen, the chestnut haired male smiled the sort of smile that would bring fear to the hearts of most people. It was not a nice smile, and the expression seemed odd on his handsome and youthful face. Unfortunately for the people who were the targets of that smile, it was one he would only show when plotting with people he trusted and cared about. That the one currently with him was an electronic lifeform was immaterial, what they were planning was justice (‘ _Revenge_ ’) for another person in that selective group of people. Oh, he knew that Tony would be able to do this himself were it not for two main reasons; one, he was currently hospitalised due to the actions of one person on the list (along with a possible second depending on the outcome of Kisara’s investigation into the matter), and two, Tony had been so effectively emotionally abused and gaslighted by the lot of them that he would feel like he owed it to them to just let them get away with their various crimes. He’d already done it with Maximoff and her actions before and during the Ultron incident, although he had some suspicions over what had caused Tony to do so.

    Idly he looked at the list on the screen, plans for each name already flowing through his mind:

 

  * _T’Challa_


  * _Clinton Francis Barton_


  * _Samuel Thomas Wilson_


  * _Wanda Elizaveta Maximoff_


  * _Natalia Alianovna Romanova_


  * _James Buchanan Barnes (?)_


  * _Steven Grant Rogers_



 

    Each person on that list had some culpability in his friend being left to die, stranded in Siberia.

    Seto looked over at Kisara’s holographic form as she was focused on another screen, continuing with her investigations.

    “Let the game begin.” He said, his voice angry and his eyes glacial.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a little help from the world at large, and another country just emerging onto the world sphere, Seto is able to cause some retribution for the first person on his list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, it's been a while! I've had a fair bit of stuff on which is why it's taken so long for me to post this chapter.  
> I've created the 'new' country and it's head of state as a part of this. I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out despite how long it's taken me to do.

**_Chapter One_ **

    King T’Challa of Wakanda was not happy. When he’d offered sanctuary to Sergeant Barnes, he’d assumed that Captain Rogers would turn himself in as his friend’s safety was assured. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Captain Rogers had indeed left Wakanda soon after they’d arrived, during which time Sergeant Barnes had broached the idea of going into cryostasis until a way to remove the Winter Soldier triggers was found.

    Unfortunately, Captain Rogers soon returned with the rest of his team having broken them out of the prison where they’d been placed after the airport fight. Somehow, Captain Rogers had gotten the impression that they were _all_ being offered sanctuary and had brought them with him.

    “After all, I can’t just leave Bucky alone.” Rogers had said, his eyes wide and innocent. T’Challa felt like he couldn’t really refute that and so said nothing.

    After that, he was forced to house Captain Rogers’ team within their own wing of the palace and see to their every need. And sweet Bast, were they just like whining toddlers; nothing was ever good enough for them. If Agent Barton wasn’t demanding bows and arrows with more and more technological enhancements, then Miss Maximoff was demanding that expensive shoes, clothing, jewellery and other items be bought for her. Every time that he attempted to dissuade them from their course, and explain just how much their demands would cost, Captain Rogers would give him a look that T’Challa could tell was designed to make him feel ashamed for not immediately providing whatever they wished for. Generally, he gave in, it was just easier than arguing with him. None of them ever gave any thanks when their ‘little requests’ (as Captain Rogers put it) were met. They just acted like it was their given right to receive everything their hearts desired. T’Challa couldn’t help but wonder if they’d acted the same to Stark, although he spared very little thought as to how the billionaire might have reacted to such a thing as, in T’Challa’s opinion, he probably deserved it.

    He’d been assigned to the Sokovia Accords council with the UN, but to be frank, diplomacy bored him to sleep. The only good thing about the appointment was that he could ensure that it was not discovered that the fugitive Avengers were in Wakanda. It was an internal and _personal_ matter that meant that was nobody’s business except his own, especially not Stark’s. On the way back to Wakanda from Siberia, Captain Rogers had told of how Stark had abandoned any facade of honour and attacked Sergeant Barnes, despite knowing about his innocence. Of course, T’Challa had always known that he was honourless, the shield that Howard Stark created was well known to contain Vibranium. And everyone knew that the only source of Vibranium was Wakanda so clearly it had been stolen from his country. Being the son of  thief, it was only a matter of time before Stark had shown his true colours, it was simply a pity that Captain Rogers had to find out in such a horrible way. T’Challa himself had only worked with Stark when he thought that he needed to get revenge on Sergeant Barnes in order to achieve his objective, he’d always planned on demanding restitution and penance from the American billionaire. This just made him more determined than ever to force Stark to admit his wrongs and get some form of reparations from the coloniser.

    When everything changed, it was so subtle that he barely noticed it. It started with news articles, detailing two natural deposits of Vibranium, one base somewhere in Scotland called the Shetland Islands (T’Challa wasn’t sure where either place was, he’d never really payed attention to the geography of colonisers as a child) while the other was on a small hidden island between somewhere called ‘Wales’ and somewhere else called ‘Ireland’. Much like Wakanda itself, the island had been hidden from the rest of the world and had recently come out of its own isolation. Aballā had, in their own words, created their isolation to provide a safe haven for those who were persecuted for being different.

 

> _“Yes, we are more technologically advanced than most societies, but we have always strived to use what we discovered to aid those in need._
> 
> _“What would be the point of being so advanced if we did not help those that we could?_
> 
> _“We only hid our home from the outside world in order to protect those that needed it. Children believed to be Changelings and thus endangered to force them to ‘reveal’ themselves were spirited away to safety, a harmless construct left in their place._
> 
> _“Those accused of witchcraft were rescued and brought here for their own safety. We refused to simply abandon those in need but nor could we risk the innocents that we protected.” Morgen Teg, Rigs-Mātīr (or Queen as far as the outside world was concerned) of the island had smiled when asked about their isolation._

T’Challa had, of course, demanded that all the Vibranium found in those deposits be given to Wakanda.

 

> _“Wakanda is the only place where you can find Vibranium, therefore any not in Wakanda has been stolen. It is sacred to our people and must be returned to us!” He had said in an interview._

It didn’t work. Not only had they refused to hand over the Vibranium, but they had released photographs of the mineral deposits that were clearly natural and being removed from the ground in the locations.

    Articles on the incident were highly critical of both him _and_ Wakanda, outright accusing them of stockpiling the world’s supply of Vibranium for their own ends. When the records of Wakandans leaving their country and turning up anywhere there were rumours of Vibranium before leaving as the rumours vanished, people began drawing the conclusions that they were stealing the Vibranium from other countries. Trying to shift the title of ‘thief’ onto others didn’t work either. His accusation of Howard Stark stealing the Vibranium that he used in Captain Rogers’ shield (or at the very least buying Vibranium that had already been stolen) was met with derision and Aballā releasing the sales records from their country to _both_ Starks. It turns out that, having found out where his father obtained his Vibranium, Stark purchased more and that was what was used in the creation of the being Vision.

    Aballā’s willingness to help their neighbours had only extended with their emergence into the world sphere. They had, in the past, done what little they could do to help countries across the world when they were suffering. Now that they were in the open, far more aid was leaving that tiny little island nation. This had the unfortunate consequence that people were now starting to ask why Wakanda didn’t try and help any of their neighbours. They insisted on calling all white people ‘colonisers’ but when members of other African nations were being kidnapped and sold into slavery, they had closed their borders and hidden. They could have helped hide the neighbouring countries but instead they ignored the suffering and atrocities around them.

    With all of the political, social and financial pressure that people were putting on Wakanda, and with the loss of the Vibranium advantage due to Aballā and Scotland selling it cheaper and more easily than them, T’Challa found that he only had two bargaining chips left to him. The first was Captain Rogers’ location. With Stark advocating that Sergeant Barnes was forced to work for HYDRA against his will and deserved some sort of psychological help while he helped give closure to his victims’ families, the Wakandan king knew that the person he’d pledged to protect was now safe. The only thing stopping him from simply handing them over was the fact that he didn’t want to betray the other man and be tarred with the same brush as Stark. He wasn’t _that_ desperate!

    His second bargaining chip was one that he needed to think carefully on using, his mother would not approve but perhaps marrying his sister off to one of his allies would buy him some breathing room.

* * *

 

    Seto smirked at the screen showing security footage from inside the Wakandan palace. Seeing T’Challa’s frustration at the latest articles was satisfying but not enough. With each attempt to deflect from his own, and his country’s, flaws more and more people were beginning to question his suitability as a monarch. And all it had taken to start the process were a few emails, one to a highly reputable journalist about the existence of the other Vibranium deposits, another to the Aballān Queen, and a final one to Princess Shuri. While Seto might want T’Challa to suffer and to take Wakanda itself down a few pegs, he had a great deal of respect for the young Wakandan princess. She had secretly contacted Pepper to inquire about Tony’s wellbeing and continued to do so.

> _“My brother is an absolute monarch, in Wakanda his word is law. He has made it clear that he will tolerate no positive mention of Dr Stark. He has made him the enemy and anyone who is considered to be ‘conspiring’ with him will find their lives forfeit, even or perhaps especially me._
> 
> _“Because I am currently my brother’s heir, he wishes to keep me on a short leash. I often wonder, if my mother wouldn’t disapprove, if he would attempt to try and marry me off to one of his allies to consolidate his power.”_

Pepper had passed on Seto’s details to the Wakandan Princess; with no major connection to Tony, it would be safer for her to contact the Japanese businessman. Even if Rogers and his little band had mentioned him to T’Challa, there was little chance that he could make a rational objection that would be accepted by anyone.

    Seto found that he got along rather well with the young Wakandan Princess, she was highly intelligent and was clearly desperate to prove that. Hearing that she’d probably be accepted into any university in the world despite her young age was a revelation to the princess, she (and the rest of Wakanda) had always assumed that you had to be 18 to go to outside universities. The next conversation that she had with Seto also involved her mother who was just as eager for her daughter to experience the world although for a reason that she wouldn’t tell him until Shuri was out of the room:

    “My son has been closeted with one of his closest allies, and both of them have been looking at Shuri in a strange way. My son knows that I would _never_ approve of Shuri being forced to marry someone that she does not love, purely for her brother’s convenience. However, he is also an absolute monarch, one who has fought for his right to rule. If he gives an order, our people will listen. The Dora Milaje are beginning to question him but they can hardly take on the entire country. I want my daughter to remain safe, even if I have to send her away to do so.” The queen mother’s ernest face made Seto silently vow to help her. He started to make inroads as soon as the call was disconnected, and not a moment too soon. Less than two weeks after that, Shuri fled Wakanda with her mother and a few members of the Dora Milaje, the others having given their lives to help her escape. They settled in California, with Tony and Pepper’s backing, safe in the knowledge that they wouldn’t be forced back. T’Challa threw up a stink, demanding that they be returned but, as all of them were in danger of being killed (in the case of the adults) or being forced to marry, his demands were rebuffed. Shuri might have been sixteen, but she was considered very young to be getting married, especially as both she and her legal guardian were against the ‘marriage’. The group of eight women renounced their Wakandan citizenship after being granted status as American citizens in exchange for alerting the UN as to the Rogues’ whereabouts. The UN kicked him off the council in charge of finding the Rogues and ruled that unless T’Challa released them into custody, there would be sanctions placed on Wakanda. T’Challa blustered and attempted to deny that they were there, but he was unable to get out of the decision that he was going to be forced to make. There was even talk of criminal charges against him for remaining on the council when he was heavily involved with hiding the Rogues.

* * *

 

    A very satisfied smirk crossed his face as he saw the difficulties that T’Challa was enduring, now the arrogant king could appreciate how it felt to lose all your family and be abandoned. He raised a hand and swiped it viciously through the air before glancing at the list of names:

 

  * ~~__T’Challa__~~


  * _Clinton Francis Barton_


  * _Samuel Thomas Wilson_


  * _Wanda Elizaveta Maximoff_


  * _Natalia Alianovna Romanova_


  * _James Buchanan Barnes (?)_


  * _Steven Grant Rogers_



 

He looked up at Kisara, a similar smirk on her own features.

    “Round two?” She asked and he grinned in response. This might be revenge, but he'd never had so much fun before!


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint Barton starts having some issues...most of them caused by his own idiocy...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so I wanted to say thanks to everyone who's given me Kudos and subscribed. That some of my own favourite writers is included in that number really means a lot to me.  
> So this one is a little bit more salty than the last one...it kind of got away from me actually. Also, if anyone can get the little Easter egg for one of the series that I used to watch ALL the time, you'll get a shout out in the next chapter. ;-)  
> As always, anything you recognise is not mine!

**_Chapter Two_ **

Clint had never really liked Tony Stark or Seto Kaiba, as far as he was concerned the pair of them were spoiled rich boys who had no idea how things worked in the real world. True, he hadn’t met either of them before Natasha had told him all about her encounters with the pair, but SHIELD got her to profile people all the time so she was a really good judge of character. After the Ultron incident, they all ended up moved into the new Avengers facility that Stark had built for them. It was pretty sweet for a while, Stark was paying for anything they needed despite leaving the team in a tantrum because Wanda was added to the team. Of course, Clint had to ‘retire’ pretty soon after as Laura had threatened to leave him if he didn’t stop with the hero work (something about how she was scared that she’d lose him and end up having to raise their kids without their dad, he wasn’t really listening). All the others, apart from Rhodes and Thor, threw him a leaving party. Of course, he confessed to them that he wasn’t really retiring, just letting Laura think that he was. Steve agreed to only call him when the big shit was going down. Wanda was devastated that Laura was taking him away from her:

> __ _ “I can’t believe that you’re going away! She’s so selfish to take you away from people who need your help! I bet Stark put her up to it!” Wanda’s big brown were filled with tears while a fierce and angry scowl graced her lips. Clint found it adorable. _
> 
> __ _ “Yeah, probably. But hey, don’t worry, I’ll call you all the time, and I might even be able to sneak back to see you!” He replied. Her entire face lit up. _
> 
> __ _ “I think I’d like that.” She said shyly. _

He’d never told anyone, but he and Wanda had proceeded to both get very drunk and they woke up in bed together the next morning. Throughout the time that he spent with Laura, he was constantly remembered his night with Wanda. A few months later, he managed to go away for a few days, and spend them at a hotel with Wanda (paid for by Stark, the rich bastard owed them for everything he’d put them through!). It was better than the night before he left, better even than his first time with Laura. They’d even started making plans for a life together at some point.

“She can’t expect you to stay with her forever, she’s clearly not seeing to your needs!” Wanda pointed out and Clint had to concede that that was true. Still, he pretended to Laura’s face that nothing was wrong and nothing had changed, all the while falling deeper and deeper in love with Wanda. She was faking a relationship with Vision, in an attempt to keep the android under control. So when Steve called him and told him that he needed to rescue Wanda from the Avengers compound where Stark had imprisoned her, his heart was in his throat and he was moving almost before his friend could finish speaking. This, of course, meant that he had to reveal to Laura how much he cared about Wanda, but there was nothing he could do about that.

Much later on, once Steve had broken them out of the Raft, where Stark had thrown them, the group made their way to Wakanda. While there, he and Wanda revealed their actual relationship, much to the surprise of everyone except Natasha who’d realised quite quickly that he’d been seeing someone other than his wife for a while. He and Wanda began refining their plans to be together, how he’d return to Laura and then leave when she was able to join him from their exile, probably when Stark was exposed as the evil bastard he was.

“It’s got to look real, Clint, and I get that. But just remember, it’s  _ me _ you love!” Wanda insisted, just before he left to ‘return’ to Laura. He kissed her before gazing in her eyes.

“Of course I’ll remember love. It won’t be long before Stark does something else and then everyone will be asking Steve to come back and deal with him. We’ll be together soon.” He replied, before getting on the plane.

* * *

 

Clint didn’t even know how he’d ended up in this situation, everything should have been so perfect. He’d managed to act all contrite and was able to end up on ‘house arrest’. It was great for bonding with the kids, Laura had to get a job as he had to stay at the farm and they needed the extra income. He couldn’t help but subtly try to turn the kids against her, he reasoned that if they wanted to live with him then it’d be easier to get custody when he eventually divorced Laura. Because he’d married her during her college degree, she’d not had any real experience and struggled to find anything that wasn’t waitressing or working in retail. In the end, she had to take two jobs, one at a bar in the evening and another in a grocery store during the day. Clint loved this arrangement, it meant that he could call Wanda more frequently than he otherwise would have.

It was only two months after he’d returned that Wanda had some news for him:

“Clint…” Her voice was quiet and his hackles instantly went up. Laura was out at her bar job and the kids were in bed, so luckily he wouldn’t have to hide his concern.

“Wanda? What’s the matter, has something happened? Has Stark done something else?” He asks urgently, body tense and ready to try and help her.

“No, nothing’s happened. Clint, I, I’m pregnant.” She was still quiet and he almost thought he’d misheard her. He was silent for a minute before his brain kicked in.

“That’s amazing love! How are you feeling?” He grinned and he heard a relieved huff from the other end.

“I’m doing ok, I just wish you were here with me.” She replied and he sighed.

“I know, I doubt that it’ll be much longer before Stark fucks up and then you’ll be able to come home and I can get out of here with the kids. Then all of us will be able to be a family.” He said.

“I’d like that.” She replied. They chatted for a few more minutes about the baby and their plans before hanging up.

Less than two weeks later, everything started going downhill. Laura had found out how he’d been trying to turn the kids against her; from then on, the kids would stay at her parents whenever she was working. Clint didn’t mind being alone in the house so much, it gave him more time to talk to Wanda. But when it came to doing ‘family’ things, the kids seemed to want to be as far away from him as possible. At this rate, there might be a struggle for him to get the kids.

* * *

 

Sometimes, Seto hated being seen as the ‘ice-cold’ businessman, watching Laura Barton cry as she found out that not only had her husband cheated on her, but had also gotten his other woman pregnant and was planning on taking their kids to join this other woman.

“What can I do?” She cried and he handed her a handkerchief.

“Don’t get mad, or sad, get even. He wants to leave you and take your kids? Do the same to him!” He said firmly. She let out a teary and bitter laugh.

“How’m I supposed to keep the kids when  _ he _ owns the deed to the farm and I have to work  _ two _ jobs just to feed the kids?” She asked, a very bitter twist to her lips.

“Your degree was in computer engineering, right?” He asked and she paused, looking at him.

“Yeah, why?” She asked and Seto allowed a smirk to cross his face.

“The manager of my tech department is moving on to another job, a dedicated mother who’s successfully run a farm for years alone while patiently putting up with a deadbeat husband and who knows when it’s time to cut her losses seems like the perfect replacement.” He replied and understanding and surprise dawned on her features.

“But...I…” She stammered.

“And of course, there is an employee housing benefit offered as well, doubly so because I would be hoping to tempt you to relocate for the job.” He continued. She was silent for a few minutes before a cruel smirk spread across her own face.

“I’d be a fool to turn down such a generous offer, especially as my soon to be ex-husband doesn’t work so won’t be able to support his children. And considering he’s likely to be quite angry at  _ me _ leaving  _ him _ , emigrating to a country that he can’t travel to seems eminently sensible.” She said. Seto offered her his hand and she shook it, knowing that things would be looking up.

* * *

 

Something had changed within Laura, Clint had noticed that she wasn’t as downtrodden as before and she seemed almost excited about something. It was something to do with work from what she said, but he hadn’t been listening properly. It was probably something to do with a work night out. Because the kids were staying with her parents most of the time, their toys and clothes started to migrate over to their house. It was annoying, Clint  _ really _ wanted to be able to have the kids with him when he finally left Laura, that way he was guaranteed for her to have to give him money. Even when they were having a family day, the kids avoided him and (in Lila and Cooper’s case) were even downright rude. He, of course, told Wanda about this and she was sympathetic.

“Laura must have done something to turn them against you. That or there’s too much of  _ her _ in them. How do you think they’ll react to me?” She asked, quiet and vulnerable.

“Lila and Cooper will no doubt try to bully you. Maybe it’s best to give up on the kids, Laura obviously got to them first. And we’ll still have the farm, she’ll have to find somewhere else to live.” He sighed, letting go of his dreams about having Wanda and his kids to himself.

“Clint, I don’t know a thing about farming, and if I’m honest, I don’t want our baby growing up surrounded by animals.” Wanda sounded unsure and innocent, and Clint didn’t have the heart to deny her anything.

“Oh love, we can sell it and move somewhere else. That might be better anyway, the people round here are all stuck up prudes so I doubt they’ll let us be happy. Plus, Laura’s family has always lived round here, I don’t want to expose you to what they’ll spew towards you. Why don’t you think about where you want to live and I can subtly start looking. We might even be able to sort it so Stark has to pay for everything for us anyway.” He said, soothingly.

Barely an hour later she’d sent him a list of cities in the US that she’d be happy to live in:

  * Miami
  * Palm Springs
  * Los Angeles
  * Malibu
  * Washington DC
  * New York (But only if Stark is gone)



Clint smiled fondly, he rather liked the idea of moving to Miami as a fresh start with Wanda, perhaps a nice big beachfront home with a pool?

Laura began to spend more and more time at her parents, muttering something about it being closer to work. Clint didn’t care, it gave him more time to find a buyer for the farm and a new home for him and Wanda. Even when her things began to disappear, he didn’t really notice. I mean, it was obvious that her clothes and toiletries would end up over there when she was practically living there anyway. I meant less for him to put away and hide whenever he took listing photos anyway.

Wanda had grown tired of waiting for Stark to mess up and was going to sneak back to the US to be with him. T’Challa had provided her with everything she should need for the trip, a false passport and other false documentation under a new name (she hadn’t told Clint for safety) and a money to buy anything she needed. She managed to get out of Wakanda before T’Challa’s major troubles had started, something to do with his sister and mother fleeing and seeking asylum in the US. She facetimed him from Nigeria to let him know that she was on her way. It was weird seeing her with shorter hair in a dirty blonde colour and blue eyes from contacts, but Clint knew that the contacts would be thrown away as soon as it was safe while her hair could easily be dyed back to something closer to her natural colour.

All in all, everything was going according to plan and Clint couldn’t wait.

* * *

 

Everything was going according to plan. Laura had applied for visas for herself and the kids to Japan and they’d been granted far easier than she’d have imagined (possibly something to do with one of the biggest Japanese companies wanting to hire her). Likewise, she’d found a lovely five bedroom house on the outskirts of Domino City where she and the kids could be very happy. A fair amount of their things were already being shipped over by an international moving company and the movers had even been contracted to unpack everything for them too. The only things left at the farmhouse that she wanted now were some family heirlooms. Those would be left at her parents and slowly transported over a long period of time. And Laura’s lawyer had drawn up the divorce papers, with Laura renouncing any claim in the farmhouse in exchange for sole custody of the kids. When it went before a judge to help finalise things, she even declined any child support from Clint. The judge most definitely found in favour of her, the fact that not only had Clint been having an affair, but had also gotten his mistress pregnant and was hoping to leave Laura and get  _ both _ the kids  _ and _ the farmhouse was pretty damning evidence against his character.

Lila and Cooper who had, of course, been sworn to secrecy about their move were excited for the fresh start. They didn’t really talk to Clint any more, especially Lila. From what she could gather, Clint was dismissive over her working and had told the kids that any woman who worked didn’t care about their family. Laura could have killed him when she found that out. Instead, she emailed Pepper Potts on the email that had been passed on to her. Some how, Laura thought that Clint might end up having a few issues caused by the elegant CEO. The evening before she and the kids were due to fly out, Laura went over to the farmhouse with her father to move the last few heirlooms and leave a packet on the kitchen table for Clint. Not only was it their usual ‘family day’ but he was finally off house arrest and was at the local Police station so the ankle bracelet could be removed. Of course, Laura’s father had spoken to the local sheriff and told him of the plan and, as the sheriff was an old family friend, it had been agreed that Clint’s paperwork would be delayed to give them time to finish at the house.

She did a last walkthrough of the house, reminiscing on happier times, surprisingly there were very few that involved Clint. A pleased smile spread across her face as she put the packet on the kitchen table and left the house for the last time.

* * *

 

Clint was furious. He’d known that the sheriff was friends with Laura’s parents and that none of them really approved of him but to be so petty as to keep him longer with stupid fucking  _ paperwork _ ! What the hell did he need to do paperwork for?! He’d only gone there to get the stupid ankle bracelet taken off so he could actually start selling the farmhouse properly! But no, he had to fill out some stupid fucking form about it.

By the time he got back, it had taken over three fucking  _ hours _ . He didn’t mind that overly much, he’d actively given up on trying to get his kids to want to stay with him. If they wanted to be petty then it didn’t matter to him. It also meant that he didn’t have to spend more time with Laura than necessary, only a ‘family’ dinner.  _ That _ was what he looked forward to about family days. He’d never been much of a cook, so during the rest of the week he tended to survive on cold sandwiches, boxed macaroni and cheese and frozen tv dinners. So having a proper home cooked meal was definitely something to look forward to.

When he opened the door, the house was dark, and quiet, too quiet for it being ‘family day’. There was also no smell of food cooking. He was really not happy.

“Laura?! Why can I not smell dinner?!” He shouted, and stormed through the house looking for her. The house was empty. He was red with anger by the time he got to the kitchen and saw a large brown envelope with his name written in Laura’s neat hand. He snatched it up and ripped it open.

> _ Clint, _
> 
> _ If I know anything then you’ve already stormed through the house looking for the kids and I, only to find out that we’re not there. _
> 
> _ I know, Clinton, I know  _ **_all_ ** _ about your little bit on the side. And I know all about her pregnancy. How low can you get to  _ **_cheat_ ** _ on your wife and the mother of your children with someone who’s  _ **_half_ ** _ your age? Even worse, you planned with your other woman to take  _ **_my_ ** _ children from  _ **_me_ ** _! _
> 
> _ If you couldn’t guess, I’ve left you and taken the kids. I got a new job, a better one that  _ **_actually_ ** _ uses my college degree so the kids and I have relocated for that. _
> 
> _ I’ve already spoken to a lawyer and a judge about divorcing you. I’m not seeking child maintenance, nor do I want any part of the house sale (yes, I know about  _ **_that_ ** _ too!) so all that needs to be done is for you to sign the papers and send them back to the lawyer, then you’ll be free to marry your younger woman. I left my wedding and engagement rings in this envelope. You can put them on  _ **_her_ ** _ finger, or shove them up your own ass, I don’t really care. _
> 
> _ For once in your miserable little life, do the decent thing and let us properly cut ties with you. When you read the papers, you’ll notice that there’s no alimony set up, that’s because I don’t want  _ **_anything_ ** _ to do with you and the judge stated that it wouldn’t be fair on me to have to pay for you, your younger woman  _ **_and_ ** _ a child who’s completely unrelated to me. _
> 
> _ Goodbye Clinton, I won’t be seeing you again, the kids and I will already be at a hotel near the airport we’re flying from by the time you are reading this. _
> 
> _ Laura _

Anger that Laura was the one leaving flooded him, but he pushed it aside maybe now he could have what he wanted.

* * *

 

**_Six months later_ **

Clint hummed to himself as he drove down North Bay road in Miami Beach, on his way home to Wanda and their daughter, Karina. Finding their home after selling the farm was easy, finding work to support them was hard. Luckily, the cards that Stark had given them years ago still worked. They didn’t need to worry about anything while they could use them. Of course, just because Stark hadn’t noticed yet didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be petty and cut them off at some point. But the solution for that was simple, after buying Wanda a new fake ID from a contact in the criminal underworld, Clint opened them each a new bank account and started siphoning money from the cards into them. As their accounts reached the $2,000,000 he took a short break from moving the money in order to pass one of the cards over to Wanda who needed a bit of retail therapy. He was happy to do this for Wanda, she’d happily watched her while he went to take care of the guy who’d provided her fake ID. The bastard had realised who Wanda really was and had threatened to turn her in if Clint didn’t give him even more money. It was messy, lots of blood everywhere and the guy’s apartment was completely trashed. Clint grabbed a few expensive looking items to make it look like a robbery.

Much later on, he and Wanda were out on date night in a lovely restaurant while a neighbor’s daughter babysat Karina. Wanda was in the bathroom when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he saw a tall man with red hair in a dark suit with sunglasses over his eyes. This prick had a gun pointed in his face and Clint’s hand instinctively tightened on the steak knife.

“Sir, MDPD. Put the knife down.” The prick said calmly and confusion hits Clint’s mind.

“Why are you bothering me? Don’t you have speeding tickets to deal with?” He asked rudely. The prick didn’t react and Clint found himself angry.

“I bet Stark put you up to this, bothering one of the good guys.” He ranted as another police officer grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the knife and forces him to let go. He’s handcuffed and shoved into the back of a police car before he sees Wanda leaving the bathroom. She doesn’t even make it back to the table before she sees what’s happened and heads back to the bathroom. Clint can only hope that she manages to get home and call a lawyer for him.

* * *

 

Seto was dumbfounded. He’d planned everything out, talking Pepper into switching the account that the cards were linked to from one that Tony was paying for to a dummy one (that took some fast talking to the bank too), letting Barton to run up more and more charges to dig him into a deeper and deeper hole for a fraud charge which was a violation of his parole and would send him straight to jail. But then the  **_moron_ ** killed someone instead. Seto shrugged; sure, it wasn’t what he was trying to do but Barton was going to be going away for a long time. And his original plan might help to deal with Maximoff anyway.

 

  * __T’Challa__


  * _Clinton Francis Barton_


  * _Samuel Thomas Wilson_


  * _Wanda Elizaveta Maximoff_


  * _Natalia Alianovna Romanova_


  * _James Buchanan Barnes (?)_


  * _Steven Grant Rogers_



 

After crossing out Barton’s name on the list, Seto started plotting his next move. He was lucky that he was flexible about things changing.


	4. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam Wilson has an epiphany (with a little bit of help) about himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so I'm posting the next chapter now as I'm going away on holiday this weekend so there won't be a new chapter for a couple of weeks as I'm in a field in North Yorkshire for a music festival and I probably won't be feeling human afterwards until the Tuesday at the earliest.  
> So this one is sort of redeeming Sam Wilson just a little bit, yes he was a bit of a twat but he's not a abusive towards Tony as the others and seems to have caused less in the way of collateral damage than the others.  
> As usual, anything you recognise is not mine and well done to PrincessLena for guessing something that I do have plans for in a future fic (though it's mentioned at the end of this chapter). I want to say a big thank you to everyone who's read this series so far and who's given me kudos, it always makes my day when people do! :-)

**_Chapter Three_ **

    Sam swallowed hard as he watched the video footage that accompanied the news report.

 

> _“The world’s media has finally been given a comment by Stark Industries on why Tony Stark has been in the hospital for several months._
> 
> _“The Iron Man pilot has been reportedly recovering from four shattered ribs, a broken forearm, a severe concussion and the beginnings of frostbite. From what has been released, he was suffering from a collapsed lung and had lost consciousness._
> 
> _“Contact to the Iron Man armour was lost during a fight between Tony Stark, Captain America and the Winter Soldier. None of the parties have given any comment on what caused the fight nor has there been as to any comment as to why Captain America is fighting alongside the infamous Winter Soldier and against his former teammate._
> 
> _“He is finally returning to public life although has declined to state whether or not he will continue to work with any of the ex-Vengers should they come forward and be pardoned._
> 
> _"The American government has refused to give an official statement about how likely it is for the ex-Vengers to be pardoned but the President has been particularly vocal about how Captain America is a hero and sets an example of how America can be great again.”_

There was a lump in his throat and his stomach felt like lead. He side-eyed Steve as he wondered just how much of that news report was true. Steve had assured the entire team that Stark was fine when he left and that he didn’t want to talk about what had happened. T’Challa had been very much on Steve’s side, stating that Stark was the son of a thief and you couldn’t expect people like that to have any honour. But something niggled at Sam; yes, Barnes had left without an arm and Steve had walked out without his shield, but if the news broadcast was to be believed, Stark hadn’t walked out at all, he’d had to be rescued. Steve snorted next to him on the couch and Sam looked fully at him.

    “That’s complete trash, all I did was disable the Arc reactor and Stark was fine. He was moving and talking as we left. No, he’s just milking it for sympathy. Still, it's nice that the President recognises that I'm not one of the bad guys!” Steve said, his eyes narrowing at the image of Stark that the tv was now showing in displeasure. Sam felt sick at Steve’s callous disregard for another human being’s wellbeing, especially as the report had just said that Stark’s AI had lost contact with him during the fight and that he’d had to be rescued. He didn’t say anything though, he’d seen what happened when you disagreed with Steve.

* * *

    Another day, another news report about Stark. This had an actual interview with him. Sam thanked his lucky stars that Wanda and Clint had already gone back to America, those two would have spent the entire thing barrating Stark (even though he would never hear them through the TV!) and throwing things at the screen. Steve’s jaw was tight as they waited for Stark to speak although Natasha seemed as calm as ever.

    “Typical Stark, says he’s going to speak the press, again! And then draws more attention to himself by being late!” Steve grumbled as the wait went on and on. Natasha nodded.

    “It’s his ego, he can’t stand for anyone else to be the centre of attention. Why do you think he wouldn’t let any of the rest of us speak in press conferences before. I bet he was glad when we stopped showing up.” She added. Sam couldn’t help but mentally snort, Stark had the most experience with the press out of all of them so of course _he_ ’d be the one to speak to them. It definitely _hadn’t_ been an ego thing when he’d stepped back and left them to run the Avengers as they wanted and Steve refused to hear about someone taking over the PR for the team. Sam wondered just how long the pair of them had been passing everything off as Stark’s ego. Stark stepped onto a podium and the crowd of journalists hushed as he began to speak.

 

> _“Afternoon everyone, just a quick one. There’s been some talk about what really happened in Siberia and whether I’m going to continue to support Rogers’ team._
> 
> _“I’m not ready to talk fully about the former although I_ **_will_ ** _say that Rogers had been lying to my face about a personal matter and I found out about it in Siberia which caused a fight._
> 
> _“When I_ **_am_ ** _ready to speak about it, I promise you that I will reveal what that personal matter is and give the full story. All I ask for on that matter is time to process everything._
> 
> _“The only other thing I will say on the matter is that it was a two-on-one fight and I was left to die alone in the Arctic circle by someone who I considered not only a team-mate but also a friend._
> 
> _“I can’t thank the Russian authorities and the UN enough for allowing a team to come and extract me. And I also pass my personal thanks on to a good friend who revealed their own enhancement in order to save my life._
> 
> _“As to whether I will continue to financially support those members of the Avengers who followed Rogers on his little power trip. I am of the opinion that they are on their own._
> 
> _“If they want to ignore the wishes of the ordinary men and women of this world, the ones they_ **_should_ ** _be protecting, then they will no longer have my support._
> 
> _“Thank you for listening and again, please give me time before asking me to reveal what the full story of the fight that so nearly led to my early death.”_

    Both Steve and Natasha were silent before Steve leapt to his feet.

    “Stark’s twisting the facts, he was going to kill Bucky so of course I _had_ to stop him! I bet he wasn’t even hurt, he’s just trying to make us out to be the bad guys! That shows that he was _never_ a hero!” The blonde man snarled, rage clear on his face.

    “I’m more concerned that Stark is pulling any Avengers funding he was providing. It’s obviously another play for his ego, if we have to beg him to continue the funding then he’s got a hold over us.” She said and Steve’s face took on a grim look.

    “I’m not worried, when he causes something terrible again, we’ll be called back and we can set our own terms for saving them. We could make it a condition that he funds our team but find a new pilot for the Iron Man armour.” Steve’s voice was cold and angry as he glared at the screen. Sam wondered how much longer he could ignore that little voice inside him telling him that maybe he’d chosen the wrong side.

    T’Challa was raging about Stark as well, claiming that the Aballān sales receipts had been forged and that Stark was definitely the son of a thief. He and Steve began planning action to show that they were Avengers and to make themselves look better than Stark. Natasha was eager to join them, she seemed almost unable to let go of the fact that Stark had cast her aside so easily, anything to persuade the billionaire that he’d made the wrong choice.

    The target was one of the few remaining HYDRA bases, what better way to prove that they were heroes than to remove the threat of HYDRA. Sam’s doubts must have shown on his face because Steve pulled him aside later on.

    “I know you’re worried Sam, but we’re the good guys.” He’d said. Sam didn’t reply but he wasn’t so sure of that any more. Steve had clearly lied about how he’d left Stark, and the good guys didn’t do that, did they?

* * *

    The HYDRA base was near Barcelona, and Sam dreaded the potential damage that Steve’s usual tactics would cause. When asked about the potential collateral damage, none of the others had really cared, in fact, T’Challa had been downright callous about it.

    “If they do not realise that we are doing the right thing, and that sometimes accidents happen, then maybe they do not deserve our help.” The young king had said, and Sam’s unease had increased. Just because someone held superheroes to a higher standard and thought that they should take more care to ensure that nobody died or lost their home, didn’t mean that they didn’t deserve saving. But Steve had agreed with the Wakandan king and it was with horror, that Sam realised that this was what Stark had been talking about when he wanted them to sign the Accords, by refusing to listen to the ordinary people, they’d lost touch with those very people that they had been trying to protect.

    As the other three egged themselves on and joked amongst themselves, Sam began making his own plans. If Steve was wrong (and lied) about Stark then what else had he done? Just what harm had he caused by following Steve? He wasn’t sure exactly how it would go but he needed to try and make things right. And the first step towards that was actually admitting that he had done wrong.

    Steve had tasked him with taking to the air and warning them is any of the HYDRA goons were escaping while the others would storm in and try to take them prisoner. Instead of taking off immediately after the others had gone inside, Sam did a little bit of snooping near the hole that they’d blown in the wall. With a vague sense of horror, he realised that the intelligence that Steve had found was wrong, it wasn’t a HYDRA base but an ordinary factory, one that was making children’s toys. Sam’s high school Spanish was a little rusty but he recognised the words _clínica pediátrica_ , ‘children’s hospital’ and _gracias_. He felt that it was a safe bet that the factory had donated toys to a children’s hospital recently, and now Steve and the others were probably going to kill or seriously injure the workers and destroy the factory itself. Sam realised now that Steve was so blinded by his own reputation (and Sam himself had been blinded by his own hero worship of what he now understood was a very flawed man) that he couldn’t conceive of the idea that he was wrong. Sam made his way outside and threw up, his horror overwhelming him for a moment.

    There was a phone just inside the hole and he used it to make a call to the police. His Spanish was rustier than he thought, but he managed to get the point across. He took off and flew high enough to watch some of the workers escape the carnage inside. There was little cover, and Sam knew that the others would soon spot them. He swooped down and pointed towards the factory carpark where he knew that they could have some semblances of hiding places. Flying high once more, he was satisfied to see flashing lights and sirens as the authorities made their way to the factory’s rescue. He smiled to himself before activating his comms. 

    “Guys, we’ve got police incoming. We might want to get out of here.” He said and swearing flooded from the others.

    “ _Any idea of how long we’ve got Sam?_ ” Steve asked over the cacophony of words from the others.

    “Hard to say, but probably only ten minutes max. They’re coming fast.” He replied and Steve sighed.

    “ _Can we fight them off?_ ” Natasha asked and Sam rolled his eyes. She was always eager for a fight.

    “There’s too many for us, we need to go guys.” He was insistent and, while there was grumbling and complaining from T’Challa and Natasha, they were soon in the Wakandan jet and on their way back to the ‘safety’ of T’Challa’s kingdom.

    Sam knew this wasn’t over, not by a long shot, but he was simply glad to avoid more death than needed.

* * *

    The world news was scathing of T’Challa and Wakanda in the aftermath of the factory incident. Some of the police and anti-terrorism authorites had caught the jet on film and it was recognisably Wakandan. The young king was angry at the further scrutiny that his kingdom was receiving and Steve was angry that they were being further tarnished while Stark remained as high in the public opinion as he’d been since the Civil War. Sam didn’t care, he was finally seeing the others on his team for what they were, as well as seeing himself properly for the first time in years (it was almost like there was something adding a fog to his mind) and he didn’t like what he was seeing. There were more plans in the works to raid more ‘HYDRA’ bases (Sam had done his own digging into them and _none_ of them actually were HYDRA bases) and he couldn’t take part in any more of them, he just couldn’t! He’d never been particularly good with the whole ‘spying’ thing but he knew that he had to try. He managed to keep notes from memory of the different raid locations, what sort of tactics they were favouring ect. Natasha had counselled Steve to spend longer planning the raids in the hopes that they could avoid anyone heading to the scene to ‘rescue’ the people at at the locations.

    After a couple of months, when they were only weeks away from the next raid, Sam felt he had enough information. Leaving Wakanda proved easier than he’d thought; he’d been doing ‘flying practice’ for weeks now (although in reality he was simply ensuring that if there were any trackers in his gear, that his flying near a border would be ignored) so nobody batted an eyelid when he gathered his gear, a large lunch and a few books (his journal containing all the notes was easy to slip in amongst a few bird books) and set off for the day. He’d even managed to sneak in a change of clothes. Natasha wished him a good flight and reminded him in an almost flirtatious tone that they were holding a planning session that evening so he shouldn’t be late while Steve was nowhere to be found, ‘ _Probably staring at a sleeping Barnes like a creeper._ ’ Sam thought and there was no more fondness for his friend at all. 

    The first few times he’d gone flying, someone had always followed him, probably making sure he wasn’t going to make a run for it as both T’Challa and Natasha were suspicious that the authorities had gotten so near before he’d spotted them. But, as he acted normally with them (despite how nauseated their attitudes made him) and he always returned by evening, those suspicions and fears subsided. So he had almost half a day to get away from them before they’d know that something was up. He made very good time, the air was clear and the weather fine. The border he’d chosen wasn’t an official one, Sam was fairly certain that T’Challa had given orders that none of them were to leave Wakanda without his express permission, and as he wanted to pass on his information before anything was changed too much, Sam didn’t want to alert the Wakandan king that he was leaving. That said, he wasn’t too far from the official border. It wasn’t a secret that T’Challa was giving them sanctuary, the whole world knew where they were at this point, and most of the surrounding countries had closed their borders to any Wakandans trying to leave. Sam was banking on the fact that he was planning on surrendering himself to authorities to actually be able to stay out of T’Challa’s territory.

    Landing near the border, but not too near, he pulled off his flysuit and wings, and pulled his lunch out. In the distance, a Wakandan guard was patrolling the border. Wakandans seeking asylum in other countries weren’t unheard of, and T’Challa had ordered that all potential runaways would be apprehended and forced to remain. So Sam knew that he’d need to make it seem like he was just having a picnic and doing some reading until the guards had done their rounds. He did get a few funny looks, but when he didn’t attempt to get any closer to the border, the guards relaxed and payed him no more mind. Each series of rounds lasted two hours before a 45 minute break according to the information he’d managed to overhear. With some careful timing he was able to gain that time to hide what he was leaving behind, grab his journal and make a break for it. He knew that T’Challa had been considering raising the shields again to keep everyone in but he didn’t know if the Wakandan king had actually done it. So it was with some relief, that he was able to pass the unmarked boundary between the two countries. He walked for a good 40 minutes before turning to walk in the direction that the maps had shown for the road leading up to the border crossing. The Wakandans in the other crossing point might possibly be able to see him, but they tended to be a little dismissive of their neighbours and generally those controlling the border ignored what was happening on the other side unless someone was heading towards their control point. Sam had witnessed this himself and was hopeful that this would happen again.

    The Nigerian officials looked bored, it was no doubt because very few people tried to enter or leave Wakanda now, and they were watching TV as he approached them. None of them looked up at him, but one asked for his papers in a still bored tone.

    “Actually, I came to surrender myself, my name is Sam Wilson.” He replied and _that_ made them look up. One of them narrowed his eyes at him and spat something at him in a language he didn’t recognise while the others pointed guns at him. Sam raised his arms and allowed them to search him. His notebook raised even more eyebrows and the one who’d spoken to him in what he later found out was Fula demanded that he explain what it was.

    “The others, including T’Challa, are planning to raid other locations that they believe are HYDRA. Much like the last one, which I _did_ take part in to my shame, none of those locations are HYDRA. I couldn’t let them cause any more deaths so those are the details of _every_ location they plan to attack along with their proposed methods.” He replied as one of the officials handcuffed him (non too gently but Sam understood) and another one phoned for backup.

    He was taken before a court in Lagos as it was decided what was to be done with him. He was aware that he could potentially be executed over what happened in Lagos but that didn’t matter to him now, not when he was trying to make amends. Lagos wasn’t the beginning of the problems but it _was_ the beginning of the end. Even at the time, Sam had been shocked over Steve’s lack of compassion for the dead or dying that the incident had resulted in, but it was only now that he realised just how much of a pattern that was. The other man had never really cared over the collateral damage that he and Wanda had caused. Even Clint and Natasha had caused their fair share through some of their weapons. He seemed to be the only one who tried to avoid causing other people’s deaths, or the destruction of their property, and the only one who really felt bad when he failed.

    So yes, Sam knew that he might not have that long left to live, but if he was able to start making amends in the meantime, then he’d die happy.

* * *

    Sam was shocked, the UN had agreed that he could be put on trial in Lagos first and then he’d been extradited to Romania and finally Germany for trials over his contribution to the Civil War. That wasn’t what shocked him however, he was shocked by the sentence the Nigerian courts had given him. He’d been charged with being an accessory to terrorism-related offences that resulted in death, by all rights he should have been sentenced to death and when the judge had looked at him sternly, he told himself that he was going to meet a death sentence with dignity.

 

> _“Mr Wilson, you are no doubt aware of what the usual sentence for crimes of this nature are. However, I am inclined to show you lenience; not only did you attempt to help people at the time in an effort to avoid collateral damage, but you also apologised for your role in the incident in Lagos in the immediate aftermath and, while you did not personally help with the relief efforts, donated a significant portion of your own personal income to aid in the rebuilding afterwards._
> 
> _“Also in your favour is the fact that you have cooperated fully with authorities and have provided information that may prove vital in bringing to justice those who have far more culpability in the tragedy that our country suffered._
> 
> _“Finally, sentencing you to death would cause problems with our allies who also have cause to put you on trial. Therefore, in light of your guilty plea, I am sentencing you to 25 years in prison.” The judge had said._

Sam had been flown out to Romania the following day with his court-appointed lawyer, relieved that he’d been given a reprieve and feeling better about himself than ever from his efforts to make up for his mistakes.

    His lawyer was a pleasant young man, but didn’t really understand why Sam wasn’t making a defence plea for any of the cases. The explanation that he gave, that he didn’t want to try and run away from his mistakes anymore, was equally confusing for the lawyer but he accepted that and actually put it forward in court in an effort to gain some more leniency for his client. By the end of the final trial in Germany, Sam had racked up another 50 years from the two, he would likely never be released from prison but he was content with that. He’d set out from Wakanda to make amends and, for the most part, he’d done what he could to do that. There was only one thing left to do (aside from being a model prisoner to avoid causing anyone else more problems) and that was something he’d have to wait for permission for.

* * *

 

    The letter arrived at the new Stark Industries headquarters in London on a Thursday afternoon. The envelope was addressed to Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts and was thicker than you would normally expect. With a mask of cool indifference hiding her curiosity, she slit it open with a long scarlet nail. There was another two, slightly smaller,  envelopes addressed to Tony and Rhodes which wasn’t sealed and a letter to her. Setting aside the envelope addressed to Tony for a moment, she began to read her letter with an eyebrow raised:

 

> _Miss Potts,_
> 
> _I know that I am probably one of the last people you would wish to hear from, and I know that you will possibly not approve of my writing to Tony either, but I needed to do so._
> 
> _I made many mistakes in my time of knowing and working with him, and it took me longer than it should have done to realise this. I have, recently, been making an effort to make amends for most of my mistakes. If there was any way that the US government would hold me accountable for my part in the SHIELDRA incident then I would take it, but they are unlikely to do so as it would tarnish their ‘hero’._
> 
> _As part of my attempt at making amends, I have written to Tony and Colonel Rhodes to apologise for everything I’ve done. If Tony agrees then feel free to read what I’ve written to him, I don’t know if Colonel Rhodes will pass his letter onto you, but that is also something that I have no objection to others reading._
> 
> _Finally, I owe you an apology too. I never really showed you the respect I should have done, nor did I listen to anything you told me. The only explanation I can give is that I was so blinded by the hero worship I felt for Steve that nothing else mattered, even when it should have done. I deeply regret my actions and words, I know I can never take them back nor should I because then I would still be a blind fool. All I can do is apologise again and again while ensuring that I never make those mistakes again._
> 
> _The final thing I will say is that the Falcon wings, which I_ **_know_ ** _that SI has the patents for, are still in Wakanda. From my time there, I know that T’Challa feels no shame is taking ideas from other people. I felt that I should warn you that._
> 
> _Again, I am sorry from the bottom of my heart._
> 
> _Sam Wilson_

Pepper raised another eyebrow and sent a text to Tony, asking him to meet her when he has a minute. If Wilson’s apology was as bad as Rogers’ one then she would raise hell with him.

* * *

    Seto nodded, satisfied with Wilson’s actions. Arranging for that toy factory in Spain to donate toys to a local children’s hospital was one of the best things he could have done. When he’d realised what Rogers and his band of Merry Morons was about to do, he’d arranged for there to only be a skeleton crew in each of them and each person was aware that they could be attacked. He’d even arranged to pay for any hospital bills needed. That Wilson had actually gone looking into whether the locations actually _were_ HYDRA was unexpected but helpful; it was only a matter of time before Rogers’ crew was captured and they had now lost their aerial support. That T’Challa’s reputation was further waning was icing on the cake, the bastard had sent someone to steal the Vibranium he’d quite legally bought from Aballā. Those Wakandan operatives had also been given orders to eliminate him as Seto was rich enough to cause more problems. They’d been laughably easy to capture and were serving years in a Japanese prison.

    Seto shook his head to clear any thoughts of T’Challa and focus once more on Wilson. He’d actually been one of the ones on his list with the least sins against Tony so Seto was less concerned with ruining him, he was more concerned with ensuring that Wilson knew what he’d done wrong and acknowledged his mistakes. He looked at his list as Kisara was monitoring some of the more volatile members of Rogers’ team. With a quick swipe he crossed off Wilson’s name, having nothing more he needed to do with him.

  * ~~__T’Challa__~~


  * ~~__Clinton Francis Barton__~~


  * ~~__Samuel Thomas Wilson__~~


  * _Wanda Elizaveta Maximoff_


  * _Natalia Alianovna Romanova_


  * _James Buchanan Barnes (?)_


  * _Steven Grant Rogers_



He grinned at his focused AI’s lack of attention on him, she was taking her role in his revenge very seriously. She was as fond of Tony as he was and had quickly become best friends with FRIDAY (it was a little scary when those two got together, he was half convinced that the outrageous amount of spam being sent to Barton was down to the two AIs). He made a mental note to get the two of them together and speak to them about maybe returning JARVIS back to life, if anybody deserved it, it was the brave AI who’d sacrificed himself to try and stop Ultron.


	5. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maximoff gets taken down by the Mini-vengers (thanks to Thunderbirdswolvesandlilacs for creating the awesome name!) and some helpful AIs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Mokuba and the kids of the MCU insisted on getting a piece of the action so who am I to deny them. It did kind of get away from me a little bit, and I wasn't expecting for Karen to be such a little shit. There are a fair amount of Monty Python references used here, I don't know why but I liked the idea of them trolling Maximoff using that sort of comedy.  
> I'm sorry it's been a while, I got back from holiday (the music festival I volunteered at was fun apart from the flood during the set up) over a week ago but it's taken me a bit to get settled back in and have some idea of what I wanted to do storywise. I've got some idea for the next chapter so hopefully that shouldn't take too long.  
> As always, anything you recognise is not mine.  
> Massive thanks need to got to Thunderbirdswolvesandlilacs for their story 'Calling you out' for coming up with the term mini-vengers.

Wanda swore as she watched Clint be arrested from the crack in the open bathroom door. She knew it was only a matter of time before the police would end up at their home, no doubt to take everything from them. She _wouldn’t_ go back to prison, she wouldn’t! Cursing herself for letting her  hair colour lapse closer to its natural state, she snuck out of the back of the restaurant and hailed a taxi to take her home. She’d not taken any cash out so she waved her hand at the driver when they were outside, wiping any memory of her from his mind with a self-satisfied smirk. Kelly, their babysitter, was sat in the living room working on some homework when she opened the door and looked up surprised.

    “Ms. Harridan, I wasn’t expecting either of you back for a while.” The young girl said, an easy smile on her face. Jealousy surged through Wanda. _This_ young girl wouldn’t have problems in _her_ life; she was young, pretty, clever, and still had parents who loved her. She glanced at her watch before replying, she needed to leave as soon as possible, but maybe she had _some_ time.

    “I just forgot something, I’ll be heading out again in a second. We’re probably not going to be out as late as we thought, another hour, maybe two. You’ll still get paid the full amount though.” Wanda smiled and Kelly’s face brightened, her blue eyes practically sparkling in her happiness.

    “Thanks Ms. Harridan! I’ll just go back to my homework then, let you get on with finding what you need.” She grinned, wandering back into the living room and picking up her pen again. Wanda grinned to herself and wandered upstairs to pack a couple of things, grabbing a small pile of cash and rushing out the door again, a quick goodbye called to Kelly. The taxi had left by the time she exited the house again, the driver no doubt confused as to why he was out here in the suburbs. Nobody was watching her, so she carefully made her way next door and peeped through the windows. Kelly’s parents were sat watching a movie, cuddled up on the couch. Jealousy flooded her again, she and Clint were supposed to be able to do that but because of Stark and his lackeys, she’d lost him. With the position of their couch, Wanda would be able sneak in behind them. 

    It didn’t take all that long, she’d surprised them before they could do anything to stop her. Removing their ability to scream was her first job after binding them in their worst nightmares. Then, she locked all the doors, blacked out the windows and let them loose. It was messy, blood and flesh everywhere before they finally dropped dead. A thrill hit Wanda’s core, she’d forgotten the sheer _rush_ that using her powers to kill would give her. A smug smirk on her face, she searched the house for the jewellery that she _knew_ was hidden there. She found several expensive diamond necklaces before pulling away a painting to reveal the safe. She had to use more of her powers to rip it open, but soon she was able to stuff the family heirloom jewellery and the pile of cash hidden there into her purse.

    A glance at her watch showed it had only been an hour so she made her way back home.

    “Clint’s just stopping off at the store, he’s buying you a box of chocolates for being so sweet and helping us. He’s got the cash to give you when he gets back. If you don’t mind waiting here, he’ll give you the money soon. I’m just going to get changed and check on Karina.” Wanda smiled and Kelly nodded.

    “Sure, my parents aren’t expecting me home for a while anyway.” Wanda smirked inwardly at the knowledge that the girl’s parents wouldn’t be expecting anything anymore.

* * *

    It had been over six months since Wanda had fled Miami with her daughter and what valuables she could carry. She’d drained her bank account and then fled in the opposite direction to throw the authorities off her tail. She caused death and devastation throughout the Upper crust of many large cities (except New York as that was an easy way to get caught), murdering those she envied and stealing their valuable and money before she ended up hiding out in New Orleans, changing her hair and name again, Scarlett Beldam and Karina Barton became Scarlett and Karin Harridan. A pretty young single mother will always gain attention and sympathy, it was how she’d lured in many of her victims after all, but Wanda knew that she needed to lie low for the moment, she didn’t want to get caught after all!

But soon she found that she rather liked living there. True, it meant that Stark was getting away with what he’d done but it _did_ give her more time with her daughter. Karina had shown no powers so far, but she was less than a year old and Wanda had every expectation that her daughter would gain some sort of power that could be useful in getting revenge on Stark, and if she had _any_ say in the matter then Karina _would_ be raised to help kill Stark.

* * *

**_New Evidence in the whereabout of Scarlet Witch!_ **

**_Possible sighting of fugitive Maximoff in South America._ **

**@IronLadHarley** \- And the Daily Fail strikes again, everyone knows that she snuck back into the country and committing murder ever since! #factcheckneeded

 **@ScarlettHex** \- That’s not true! Anyone who says different is in league with Stark. He’s the reason that the Avengers broke up and our heroes are in hiding.

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- @ScarlettHex, that tweet contains so much stupid I don’t know where to start…@ShuriOfWakanda warned that Maximoff was coming to America…

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @OneLittleDickieBird, you believe someone who betrayed their country and their family? Stark murdered hers, he’s clearly evil. #Starkisevil

 **@ShuriOfWakanda** \- @ScarlettHex, the Avengers broke up because Rogers refused to listen to 117 countries and because he decided 1 man was more important…

 **@ScarlettHex** \- The Accords were designed to chain up the REAL heroes and force them to do the government’s bidding. #downwiththeAccords

 **@Who’sThatMokemon** \- @ScarlettHex,my brother signed them BEFORE the amendments and hasn’t been forced to do anything, I’d say your full of shit. #getafuckingclue

 **@ScarlettHex** \- All of you are just bullies that are ganging up on me. You should all be ashamed of yourselves!

 **@BarrelMakerBarton** \- @ScarlettHex You know who’s a REAL bully? Steve Rogers, he almost beat a man to death and then left him to die in Siberia. #NotMYCap!

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @BarrelMakerBarton, lies told by Stark to make himself seem like a victim when he’s the REAL villain! Look what he’s done to the Avengers!

 **@Who’sThatMokemon** \- @ScarlettHex Bitch please, he was unconscious with very few vital signs when my brother arrived. Any longer and he’d have been dead. #CapisEvil

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @Who’sThatMokemon, your brother is just as evil as Stark. Kaiba Corp was founded on weapons. How do you sleep at night with BLOOD MONEY?

 **@Who’sThatMokemon** \- @ScarlettHex Pretty well actually...considering that my brother changed it to a tech company when he first took over. #QuitYourBullshit

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- @Who’sThatMokemon @ScarlettHex Oooh, burn!

 **@BarrelMakerBarton** \- @OneLittleDickieBird @Who’sThatMokemon @ScarlettHex Isn’t it illegal to burn witches now? #Justwondering

 **@HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye** \- @BarrelMakerBarton Not if you’re the Spanish Inquisition 😈🙎🎆🔥😇

 **@TheLadybug** \- @HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye OMG! 💗💖

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @HawkgirlBeatsHawkeeye Who the fuck are the Spanish Inquisition?

 **@IronLadHarley** \- @ScarlettHex Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

 **@It’sMyGirlFriday** \- @IronLadHarley, I don’t think she gets the reference…

 **@ScarlettHex** \- I fucking KNEW it, Stark made ANOTHER Murderbot!

 **@It’sMyGirlFriday** \- @IronLadHarley You know what, never mind, carry on…

 **@BarrelMakerBarton** \- But how do you KNOW that she is a witch?

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- She turned me into a newt!

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- I got better

 **@NotATypicalKaren** \- We’re ALL forgetting one thing, why do witches burn?

 **@Who’sThatMokemon** \- @NotATypicalKaren, because they’re made of wood!

 **@ScarlettHex** \- What the FUCK are you lot on about?!?!?!

 **@TheLadybug** \- So how can we tell if she’s made of wood?

 **@HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye** \- Build a bridge out of her!

 **@ShuriOfWakanda** \- 😂

 **@ScarlettHex** \- You are all so fucking immature!

 **@ShuriOfWakanda** \- @ScarlettHex, that’s because we’re KIDS! All of us are under 18…

 **@NotATypicalKaren** \- Does wood sink in water?

 **@IronLadHarley** \- @NotATypicalKaren No! It floats! Let’s throw her in the pond!

 **@NotATypicalKaren** \- What else floats in water?

 **@Who’sThatMokemon** \- Bread!

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- Gravy!

 **@BarrelMakerBarton** \- Small rocks!

 **@It’sMyGirlFriday** \- A Duck!

 **@NotATypicalKaren** \- Yes, so...logically…

 **@TheLadybug** \- If she weighs the same as a duck…

 **@HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye** \- Then she’s made of wood…

 **@NotATypicalKaren** \- And therefore…

 **@Who’sThatMokemon** \- A Witch!

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- A witch!

 **@BarrelMakerBarton** \- A witch!

 **@NotATypicalKaren** \- Very well, we shall use my largest scales…

 **@ScarlettHex** \- STOP IT ALL OF YOU!!!!!!

 **@BlueEyesDragon** \- Nice work trolling the witch guys! @ScarlettHex Maximoff, if you don’t want people trolling you, don’t be stupid and have Twitter…

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @BlueEyesDragon my name is Scarlett Beldam!

 **@TheLadybird** \- @ScarlettHex, Previously Scarlett Harridan in Miami Florida

 **@HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye** \- @ScarlettHex, and Scarlett Targe in Austin Texas

 **@BarrelMakerBarton** \- @ScarlettHex, Scarlett Muti in Seattle Washington

 **@IronLadHarley** \- @ScarlettHex, Scarlett Hoodoo in Atlanta Georgia

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- @ScarlettHex, Scarlett Orenda in Los Angeles California

 **@It’sMyGirlFriday** \- @ScarlettHex, Scarlett Makutu in Las Vegas Nevada

 **@NotATypicalKaren** \- @ScarlettHex, and finally Scarlett Jinx in Boston New England

 **@BlueEyesDragon** \- @ScarlettHex, ultimately your name was Wanda Elizaveta Maximoff, born in Novi Grad in Sokovia where the rest of your family all died.

 **@BlueEyesDragon** \- @ScarlettHex, your parents died from a fake missile fired by HYDRA while your brother died because of the choices that the pair of you made.

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @BlueEyesDragon, LIES! Stark was responsible for all their deaths! It was HIS missile that killed my parents.

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @BlueEyesDRagon, and he was responsible for Ultron, the murderbot who killed my brother!

 **@IronLadHarley** \- @ScarlettHex, you DO realise that he wasn’t the one that FIRED the missile, right?

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- @ScarlettHex plus a UN council found him innocent of any involvement with Ultron’s creation. He took all reasonable precautions to avoid it.

 **@ShuriOfWakanda** \- @ScarlettHex, you’re a grown woman, you need to start taking responsibility for your actions. 

 **@ShuriOfWakanda** \- @ScarlettHex Or do you think that all the children you orphaned have the right to volunteer for illegal human experiments to kill you?

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @ShuriOfWakanda I had to kill them! I needed the money more than them but they wouldn’t have let me have it!

 **@Who’sThatMokemon** \- Notice how she’s not denying who she really is anymore? How can you try to bully the kids whose father you stole and their friends?

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @Who’sThatMokemon, I never stole anyone!

 **@HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye** \- @ScarlettHex, you stole mine and my brothers’ dad...and broke up our family!

 **@BarrelMakerBarton** \- @HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye at least mom’s happier without our sperm donor

 **@ScarlettHex** \- @BarrelMakerBarton He was happier with me than he ever was with your mother. If you’re ever in New Orleans then I’ll show you!

 **@HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye** \- @ScarlettHex never going to happen, we’ll NEVER throw away our mom!

 **@ScarlettHex** \- Who the Hell do you think you are?!

 **@IronLadHarley** \- @ScarlettHex We’re the Mini-vengers!

 **@TheLadybird** \- @ScarlettHex And we won’t let injustice stand!

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- @ScarlettHex We’re not just a team!

 **@HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye** \- @ScarlettHex We’re a family!

 **@Who’sThatMokemon** \- @ScarlettHex We’re more of a family that the original Avengers ever were!

 **@ShuriOfWakanda** \- @ScarlettHex We will NEVER betray or bully one of our members!

 **@BarrelMakerBarton** \- @ScarlettHex And we will ALWAYS stand up for each other!

 **@OneLittleDickieBird** \- @RockyRhodes Uncle Rhodey, check out earlier in this conversation, it might be what you were looking for.

 **@RockyRhodes** \- Uhhh...what am I reading…?

 **@HawkgirlBeatsHawkeye** \- @RockyRhodes Just the Mini-vengers taking Maximoff down a few pegs!

 **@RockyRhodes** \- @IAmIronMan You may want to read this Tones…

 **@IAmIronMan** \- …#ThereAreNoWords

 **@RockyRhodes** \- Update: Just heard from Captain Marvel @CaptainMarvel The Enhanced Task Force has taken Maximoff into custody and her daughter is with CPS.

 **@BlueEyesDragon** \- @KaibaDragon, told you you’d want to see this…

 **@KaibaDragon** \- @Who’sThatMokemon This wasn’t what I meant about telling you not to get close to her…

* * *

    In her trial in front of the ICC, Maximoff was convicted of multiple accounts of 1st degree murder, theft, crimes against humanity, conspiracy to commit genocide, assault, property damage and fraud. She was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident at Lagos. There was some debate over her ultimate fate, some countries wished for her to be sentenced to the death penalty while others, those that had abolished it, were advocating for life inprisonment. One thing that they were all in agreement upon was that she should have her powers bound by the Masters of the Mystic Arts. The screech she let out upon realising that Dr Strange was about to remove her ill-gotten powers from her was horrifying. Many of those present flinched and closed their eyes. By the time they’d opened them again, the Eye of Agamotto was closing and Maximoff had her head hanging limply.

    “For a time she is unable to tell any lies and will answer any question you put to her. Perhaps finding out more of her motivations will help with the sentencing debate.” Dr Strange nodded before leaving, his role done.

    For the most part, her motivations involved getting revenge on Tony Stark and anyone else she blamed for whatever had gone wrong in her life. But then the Sokovian delegate asked a question that none of them were expecting.

    “Why did your brother have such a quick change of heart, and begin working with the Avengers so readily? And why did he do nothing to attempt to harm Dr Stark?” He asked as the other delegates glanced at him in confusion. Maximoff was silent for a few moments before speaking, still slightly dazed from having her connection to her magic taken away.

    “As we grew older, he started to question more and more about whether Stark really was responsible for our parents’ deaths. Shortly after we were given our powers, he told me that he didn’t want to get revenge on Stark anymore, that he wanted to find who was really responsible. I told him that it was Stark but he wouldn’t listen. I _had_ to take control of him and make him listen to me. When we found out that Ultron was going to kill us too, I decided that we would work with the Avengers and he had to obey me.” She said, blinking and trying to come back to herself. Revealing that she’d taken control of her own brother in order to kill Tony Stark removed a lot of objections to the death penalty, although not all of them.

* * *

    In the end, she was not executed but sentenced to life in prison in a Sokovian jail. Her powers were permanently removed from her, causing her to rage and scream at the perceived injustice of it all. Her daughter was put into the foster care system and adopted by a lovely couple.

    Seto smirked as he read the reports of her trial and sentencing. He’d not really started planning on anything for her but in the end, he hadn’t needed to. It was a reminder to never underestimate a group of clever and resourceful kids, especially when one of them had been wronged by you. Maximoff was the sort of person to take what she wanted without any thought to the consequences or anyone else’s feelings, and now she was paying the price. At least half of her outrage was through being outwitted and taken down by a bunch of teens and pre-teens with a little help from a couple of AIs. That all three AIs had had Tony’s influence during their creation made things worse for her. Still smirking, he pulled up his list to cross off another name:

 

  * ~~__T’Challa__~~


  * ~~_Clinton Francis Barton_~~


  * ~~_Samuel Thomas Wilson_~~


  * ~~_Wanda Elizaveta Maximoff_~~


  * _Natalia Alianovna Romanova_


  * _James Buchanan Barnes (?)_


  * _Steven Grant Rogers_



 

Four down, and three (possibly only two) left to go. True, Seto had grounded Mokuba for two days over taking on Maximoff with his friends, but he wasn’t all that serious about it. The two brothers (and Kisara) spent those two days watching movies and spending time together. Seto knew that Mokuba had realised that he wasn’t really in trouble but that didn’t matter. Just spending time together was nice. 

Kisara peered over his shoulder at the list.

“The next one’ll be harder.” She commented and Seto grinned at her.

“But more fun.” He agreed, receiving and answering grin in return.


	6. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha Romanoff tries to get revenge on Seto for seeing through her disguise all those years ago but she's going to have a bit of a shock when she tries this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken so long for this chapter guys, RL got in the way...  
> So I’d really appreciate it if you guys would fill out this quick survey about this series, it’d only take a couple of minutes max (it’s super short!) https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MR6ZL65

Life hadn’t been easy for Natasha and Steve since the ‘Civil War’. They’d left Wakanda early on so as not to cause more problems for T’Challa. When Shuri had betrayed her brother and country, Natasha had offered to infiltrate America and Shuri’s home to return her to T’Challa but Steve had put his foot down. He’d told her that it was too dangerous to go anywhere Stark could get to them easily and that he didn’t want to lose her too. She's conceded but with very bad grace; she doubted Stark (or anyone) could capture _her_ , she was the Black Widow after all! Still, it meant that they needed to go somewhere safe, somewhere that Stark and his cronies would _never_ expect them to be. And that’s when it hit her, Steve wanted to avoid another confrontation with Stark but that didn’t rule out _every_ billionaire in the world that could support them. Some of them were out of the question, Bruce Wayne was too near Stark and Gotham already had superheroes, but they _could_ try and turn Kaiba against Stark. Japan was somewhere they’d never be expected to be and it would be such delicious _revenge_ against Stark to turn one of his friends against him. A couple of boxes of dye and both Steve and her had much darker hair and a quick stop at a shopping mall meant that their disguise of a honeymooning couple was complete.

    She had to threaten one of her old SHIELD sources to provide them with false passports, the first set calling them Nathalie and Sinclair Rousseau for their trip to Japan itself in the guise of a young French couple, and the second calling them Natsumi and Sukekatsu Rokuhara. For their plans, they’d abandon their ‘honeymoon’ disguise as soon as they could and switch to one that made them seem like brother and sister, easier to dissociate from the honeymooning couple who would disappear in Japan by ensuring that the relationship between them was different. Steve wasn’t originally convinced by having to take on a Japanese name, but Natasha insisted.

    _“Look, Steve, I get it. But we need to blend in, otherwise we’ll get caught. It’s not gonna be forever, but until we can prove that Stark is the real villain and take our places as heroes again, we need to make sure his goons don’t catch us.” She said, firmly. Steve sighed but agreed with her._

    Everything went according to plan, they were able to make it into Japan undetected and get themselves settled into their new role. Natasha thanked her lucky stars that she’d been able to give Steve a crash course in Japanese and encourage him to continue learning the language. True, _she_ was the one who was going to get an actual job, but Steve still needed to communicate when he ran to the store or ran into their new neighbours. The four bedroomed house that they moved into was bigger than they really needed but ideal for their cover as Steve could have an art room while she was able to have a small ballet studio. It had taken a decent chunk of the cash she’d siphoned from Stark years ago, just in case he’d ever turned on them.

    Getting an interview at Kaiba Corp was laughably easy, Kaiba’s reputation with technology was clearly not deserved if she only had to do the most basic hacking to generate a fake background that _wouldn’t_ have stood up to even the most basic checks Stark would have done. Natasha smirked to herself, it just made her job easier, clearly Kaiba was blinded by his own arrogance and he knew _exactly_ how work around the male ego. Even Steve had an ego that she used to further her own aims, that very ego that refused to let anyone blame him for the DC incident protected her from any potential consequences for her own role in the Data Dump. Yes, she could work with Kaiba’s ego, she might even consider making a serious play for his fortune…

* * *

 

    Seto knew the exact moment Rogers and Romanoff boarded a plane to Japan, Kisara had been keeping a watch for them using airport CCTV at the UN’s behest. Every country in the world (barring Wakanda but the less said about _them_ the better!) was wanting to know where the last three Rogues were . Evidence suggested that Barnes was still in T’Challa’s domain but sightings of the other two confirmed that they, at least, were doing their usual thing of crossing international borders illegally. So yes, Seto knew that they were in his country and figuring out their goal was similarly easy. They needed money but neither of them had worked an honest job in their lives (from what he could work out) so their only option was to steal it, which Rogers would immediately refuse to do because he still believed himself to be a ‘hero’, or to find a new sugar-daddy. Because they were in Japan it meant that their target was either Maximillion Pegasus or himself, and Pegasus was more of a recluse now than before, something about losing that gold eye of his.

    So, when Kisara flagged Romanoff’s application to work at KC, a smirk spread across his face.

    “What are you thinking?” The AI asked, raising an eyebrow.

    “Let her through.” He replied and Kisara furrowed her brow.

    “Seto, are you sure? She could be trying to spy on not just your company but you too!” She said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Seto thanked his stars that he’d been able to complete Kisara’s ‘hard light’ form. It gave another option for the revenge on Romanoff.

    “It’s time to trap a spider. And with your hard light form...well, she won’t see it coming.” He said, placing his own hand on top of hers. A slow grin spread across her face and Seto could practically _see_ the plans forming in her head about how she was going to deal with the little spider who’d consistently tried to hack and shut down Kisara’s best friend, FRIDAY. He almost felt sorry for Romanoff, almost.

* * *

 

    Natasha dressed professionally for the first week, no use drawing attention to herself too soon. By the second week, her skirts were slowly getting shorter and she was putting more and more décolletage on display. A month in, and she was finally wearing an outfit she’d bought on SHIELD’s dime while she was profiling Stark. The original plan was for her to seduce him (hence why she’d bought the outfit) but that soon changed when SHIELD realised that he was interested in Potts and not paying attention to any other woman. So it had been gathering dust in the closet of on of her secret bolt holes. She’d deliberately hidden its existence from anyone in SHIELD, just in case she had to leave them behind in such a way that they’d pursue her. It was just luck that she’d destroyed them when they’d outlived their usefulness long before she actually needed to use it. She’d led Steve to believe that she’d bought the cottage in the French Alps _after_ Ultron in case they ever needed a safe place once Clint had retired. It was galling that she had to reveal the bolt hole to someone else but needs must.

    Steve had raised an eyebrow at her attire but she simply explained with a smirk that she was going to be taking notes in a meeting that Kaiba was in and she wanted to make sure that she caught his attention.

    “Not a bad plan, the sooner you get him to back us, the sooner we can get out of this country. Never trusted the Japs, not after what they did to us during Pearl Harbour.” Steve nodded and Natasha fought the urge to roll her eyes. Men were so simple, they couldn’t understand the need to make use of whatever and whoever you had to in order to survive.

* * *

 

    Seto and Kisara had been using the CCTV in the building to keep an eye on Romanoff throughout the month, laughing at her obvious attempts to be subtle about dressing more and more provocatively.

    “Does she really think that you’ll want to fall into bed with her just because she shows some skin?” Kisara asked, a confused tilt to her head.

    “The thing to remember about Romanoff is that she was trained from a young age to seduce, kill and spy. She never had any training on profiling and sucks at it, despite what she thinks. She’s also highly manipulative and believes that she can use her body to get what she wants and will change her body language depending on the situation.” He explained, shaking his head at Romanoff’s stupidity.

    “How long do you think it’ll be until she makes her attempt at a checkmate?” Kisara asked and Seto glanced at her with amusement.

    “Checkmate? I should never have taught you to play chess. And honestly, I’d say probably a month at most, she doesn’t strike me as someone particularly patient. It’ll probably be even less if I tell her that I don’t want to be seen in public because of the nuisance from the press.” He replied and Kisara laughed.

    “You wanted someone to play with, not my fault the analogy works.” She smiled and Seto felt another rush of fondness flood him.

* * *

 

    Well, it sort of worked. He’d asked her on a date, but he refused to take her out in public:

 

> _“If you’re seen out in public with me, the press will hound you and make it impossible for you to live your life.” He’d said._

Still, she could work with that, even if it _was_ galling. And she’d gotten further this time than before when SHIELD had asked her to seduce him. She’d never quite gotten over the fact that she’d not managed to seduce him the last time she was in Japan. This wasn’t a redemption, this was _revenge_ ! Steve might not know it, but Natasha had long since decided that she would seduce Kaiba into marrying her (after she’d persuaded him to force Stark to drop any charges against her) and naming her as his sole beneficiary in his will. She’d have to wait a bit otherwise it would be suspicious, but she’d make sure he died by her hand for what he’d done. Steve, of course, would be told after the fact that she _had_ to kill Kaiba, if she worded it right then Steve would continue to back her, viewing her as a victim.

    Natasha made sure that Steve never came face to face with Kaiba, he wasn’t anywhere near her skill level when it came to disguising appearances and the last thing they needed was Kaiba recognising him. She had, of course, met Kaiba’s younger brother shortly after getting the job and truthfully, she would rather have t seduce him. A younger target was always more naive and easier for her to manipulate. If _he_ ’d been in charge of Kaiba Corp back when she’d tried to infiltrate it, she wouldn’t have failed her mission. He didn’t stick around long, probably had no idea how to act around a woman, but she’d made sure to add a little bit of subtle flirting. Not enough to be accused of trying to play the two brothers off against each other (that was for later) but just enough for him to think fondly of her. It was with some pride that she saw a blush on his face as he fled.

    Too easy.

* * *

 

    Seto grinned as he read the reply from Major Danvers. Romanoff really thought that just dying her hair and giving herself a fake name would hide who she really was. She’d have had to do a lot more in order for that to work on Tony for a second time, let alone Seto with his technopathy. And he knew _all_ about her plans, about how she and Rogers had originally agreed that she’d manipulate him into falling out with Tony before they asked him to support them in the same way that they’d made Tony do so. And he knew that she had apparently decided to change those plans without Rogers’ knowledge, to involve his own death to get them all the money they wanted. Her second set of plans were reliant on him and Mokuba falling out so that his brother was no longer a beneficiary of his will (the sole beneficiary at this point). Her callousness sickened not just him but also those he’d confided in, all of the members of the Enhanced Task Force (a group that takes orders directly from the UN as an NGO and works directly in conjunction with the ICC and the JCTC) had been suitably outraged at her manipulative cruelty while Motou, Wheeler, Taylor and Valentine all wanted to perform some form of violence upon her. He hadn’t wanted to tell those last four, but considering each of them had signed the Accords in an emergency only capacity. Considering what Tony had seen through that portal in New York, it seemed likely that they would be needed at some point.

    He was aware that she was planning on marrying him to gain access to his money and how she planned to ensure there would be a wedding. It was well known that Black Widows were sterilised at the end of their training by the Red Room but Kisara had flagged a couple of Romanoff’s purchases as something for concern. Not only had she bought herself something that Kisara discovered was similar to GHB but she had also bought someone’s used pregnancy test, on that showed it was positive. Clearly she intended to ensure that he believed they’d spent the night together and that he’d gotten her pregnant. It wouldn’t take much digging to discover a conversation from Gozaburo that warned him not to fool around with girls or any woman until he properly knew how to make sure that he wouldn’t get anyone pregnant as the older man didn’t want to have to deal with the scandal of his ‘son’ being needing to marry someone because he’d impregnated them. Gozaburo used to brag about that conversation, much to Seto’s irritation, what 16 year old boy wants to have his sexuality and relationship status broadcast to their parents’ friends? It had only been a couple more months before Seto had ousted Gozaburo but by that point he wasn’t sure if he even wanted children. It had taken some fast talking on his part to convince a doctor, but he’d had some of his sperm frozen in case he changed his mind and then booked a vasectomy. Not long after he turned 18, there’d been a fair few women that he’d had one night stands with (an American journalist called Christine had made comparisons between him and Tony over the ‘womanising’) that had claimed that they were pregnant. Some of them actually _were_ pregnant but by other men. Every single one had tried to take him to court for child support, only to be laughed out of court by the medical proof that he was unable to father children and had been for years. A small part of him wanted to let Romanoff have to go down that route, but knowing how dangerous she was, he pushed that temptation down.

He’d already frustrated her with how slowly their ‘relationship’ had been going for about six months. From what the Russian government (who’d long since figured out that he was using himself as bait to capture Romanoff) had sent him, the women trained by the Red Room were trained to be as ‘easy’ as possible when they were attempting to seduce a target, lots of leg and cleavage showing with lots of lingering touches and blatant flirting. Romanoff had used all of those tricks and kept on using them, all the while expecting things to go differently. Apparently a lack of flexibility when it comes to their usual playbook not working was a reason that the Black Widow program had been disbanded (and luckily too as it had been a HYDRA program in the first place) and Romanoff was considered a laughing stock in Russia over her arrogance, Black Widows were always arrogant but Romanoff had an ego that put all others to shame. Somehow, Seto felt like she was completely ignoring the real reasons that the program had been disbanded. She probably believed that they decided they couldn’t train anyone to be anywhere as skilled as her.

Arrangements were secretly made for the ETF to be brought in without Romanoff and Rogers’ knowledge. Seto offered to host them at Kaiba Mansion, they _were_ doing him a favour after all. Major Danvers had been _very_ grateful, there was less chance of their mission being blown if they weren’t having to stay at a hotel, especially as Deadpool had been selected as one of the team for his inability to be killed. Deadpool was definitely a good person to have on your side but he did tend to draw attention to himself. Mokuba was making himself scarce for the time being, staying with Motou so that Romanoff couldn’t try to take him hostage in order to escape. Motou, Wheeler, Taylor and Valentine had all tried to insist on helping deal with Romanoff, them protecting Mokuba (not that he really needed it) was a good compromise. Soon, everything was ready and Seto planned a ‘date’ that would play into Romanoff’s hands, telling her that he needed to talk to her. Kisara had been upgraded to a ‘hard light’ hologram so she could be his backup. Romanoff had clearly been excited that he was moving things on and she eagerly agreed to the ‘date’. Finally, the day came and everyone had been briefed and were in position.

* * *

_Finally_ , Kaiba had stopped pussyfooting around and seemed to be fully falling for her charms. It wouldn’t be too long before she could finally get rid of him. She was sure that Steve would understand, especially if she paid to help Barnes (not that she wanted to, he was easier to manipulate while he was still mindfucked by what HYDRA did to him). And if not, well, she’d have so much money that she could drop Steve and use the money to improve her own image. Who cared what had happened in her past when she could pay for people to think she was a hero, Stark had been doing it for years and it worked for him. She had to be very careful with how she dressed, too much and it might raise questions but not enough and it would alert him that she might not be as into him. In the end, she chose a little black dress with black heels and accessories. It didn’t show off as much of her...assets...as she normally did when she was pursuing someone but that didn’t matter, she looked good and she knew it. Steve was impressed, but then given his lack of experience with women, he was easy to impress (and she still believed that he was in love with Barnes, despite how much he denied it) so the real test would be when Kaiba saw her.

His eyes didn’t widen, nor did his jaw drop (and that just irritated her even more, he was _supposed_ to be falling all over her!) but he _did_ give her one of those small smiles that were rarely seen, so that was something. There was no sign of his brother so she couldn’t amp up her ‘secret’ flirting with him, still, she could probably make some excuse to stop by his office at Kaiba Corp HQ and do a little bit of tempting. She had to pinch herself when he was called away from the table at the end of their meal by one of the maids so he could take a phone call. She’d been left, all alone, with the open bottle of wine; it was almost like some higher power _wanted_ her to fulfil her plan. She’d never believed in God or the Devil, the Red Room had no time for religion, but this opportunity could have been called Heaven sent had she believed. She had to stop herself from smirking when she watched him drink the spiked wine after dismissing the staff for the rest of the night; knowing that it would take about 5 minutes to kick in, she excused herself to go to the bathroom and waited the extra 5 minutes to be doubly sure that he was asleep and then set about setting her scene. She left undressing Kaiba until later, it would be the last thing she took care of, but set about pouring the remains of the wine out and opening and emptying another three bottles (taking a few swigs from one of them so she had a slight smell of alcohol). She knocked a few things askew, leaving her shoes kicked off haphazardly in the main hall. She pulled off her dress, ripping it a little bit) and threw it off to the side. It brought to mind one of the early ideas for revenge she’d had, staging him raping her while drunk and runing his reputation. The main downside to that was that she’d have actually _had_ to fuck him and while she had no qualms about using her body to get the job done, she didn’t really want to have to go that far in this case. In the end, killing him would be simpler.

She was just about to start removing his clothes when she heard a low whistle from behind her. She span around and saw a tall figure, dressed entirely in red spandex.

“Damn Romanoff, didn’t think you’d go far enough to strip.” The figure said, in a masculine voice. She tensed slightly at the use of her name, how could he have known she was here?

“Nothing to say Itty Bitty Spider? Not surprised, your plan was so nuts that even _I_ ’m shocked. Now, you gonna come quietly or does this have to get messy?” The man asked. She took stock of what potential weapons, not much but there _was_ the corkscrew within arm’s reach. She still said nothing as he came up to her, waiting until the last possible minute before stabbing him in the jugular with the corkscrew. She watched as he fell, only to be surprised at hearing Kaiba swear behind her. He was watching her with a cold expression, not even groggy from the sedative. She didn’t know how this had happened but she would. Take. Him. Down.

* * *

Seto could see the exact moment she started calculating how quickly she could reach and kill him using the corkscrew that she still carried. He smirked at her, deliberately annoying her to throw her even further off guard, before reaching out to Kisara with his mind. He knew the exact moment that she registered that he was using some powers, when his eyes turned a vibrant neon green. She stumbled back in surprise, shock hitting her features as Kisara materialised. Upon seeing Major Danvers, Romanoff had clearly realised that the situation was going south and you could practically _see_ the contingency and escape plans running through her head, she still thought that she could get out of this. But when Deadpool sat up laughed uproariously and the Wasp grew back to her usual size, she began to panic at the fact that she was very outnumbered.

The fight was quick but dirty, but in the end, it was Kisara that subdued Romanoff. She’d not realised that Kisara was able to physically interact with the world around her so being tackled by the enraged AI surprised the hell out of her. In not short order, she was firmly tied up, still in her underwear, and being carried out of the room.

“Might be an idea to wrap her in a blanket to cover her, we don’t want to be accused of deliberately humiliating her.” Major Danvers said and Wasp nodded, grabbing a blanket from the Police van that the Japanese authorities had loaned them to transport Romanoff to a jet that they would take to the Hague where she would be interviewed about her crimes by ICC investigators. Of course, there was no real way to put the blanket around her without actively wrapping her up in it because of the restraints. And so, a fully cocooned Romanoff was put in the back of a van, screaming insults and curses at each of them. Wasp shook her head at the screaming woman.

“Wow, just...wow.” She said, something about her tone caused Seto, Kisara and Major Danvers to burst out laughing. While she blushed a little at their laughter, it was exactly what was needed to break the tension.

* * *

The police officers who were babysitting Romanoff while the ETF members collected their belongings neglected to search her, they felt that it wasn’t their job and just stood around outside the van. The pair of them were berated by their boss as she could have a concealed weapon on her that she used to hurt someone. She didn’t but what she did have was a communication device that SI had produced and were selling to the military, she’d never actually been given one but she’d figured that it didn’t matter that they weren’t for her and had just swiped a couple. She used those devices to contact Rogers and warn him that she’d been apprehended and tell him to come back for her later, when they’d let their guard down. This meant that he managed to flee Japan before he too was apprehended. Apparently, Wasp was desperate to slap the smug smirk off Romanoff’s face (Deadpool had to be restrained to stop him stabbing her with his katanas) when they found the communication device.

It didn’t help Romanoff though, the ETF brought in several others to help guard her such as Dr Strange, Venom and Wolverine. Rogers would have had no chance had he even bothered to make the attempt; typically for him, he was more concerned with trying to help Barnes than anyone else. So rather than trying to break Romanoff out, he fled back to Wakanda to his friend. Kisara had watched his progress while updating the ICC as to his movements. The UN were further enraged by T’Challa’s blatant disregard for the rest of the world but they couldn’t do very much without starting WWIII, which nobody wanted to do.

Romanoff herself, was shocked that Rogers didn’t try to ‘rescue’ her. She tried to break herself out but all that did was add additional charges on her for each attempt. At her ICC trial, she was tried for: assault, corporate espionage, theft, 6 counts of attempted escape, espionage, theft of state secrets, treason, conspiracy to commit murder, breaking the accords, falsifying documents and numerous counts of illegal entry. She was convicted on every charge. Her screeches when she was sentenced to life in a Russian prison with no possability of parole were epic.

* * *

 

Seto grinned as he watched the video of her sentencing. True, working behind the scenes to make sure the small fry got their just desserts was satisfying, but taking more of an active role to take down Romanoff had been even better. If the next two weren’t super soldiers, he’d be tempted to take more of an active role himself for them. But he’d seen what happened when someone with a baseline physiology went up against a super soldier, there were hospitals in Romania and Germany with multiple examples. Although, it was possible that at least one of them might not actually be an issue. He shook his thoughts away and turned to his list:

 

  * ~~__T’Challa__~~


  * ~~_Clinton Francis Barton_~~


  * ~~_Samuel Thomas Wilson_~~


  * ~~_Wanda Elizaveta Maximoff_~~


  * ~~_Natalia Alianovna Romanova_~~


  * _James Buchanan Barnes (?)_


  * _Steven Grant Rogers_



 

Kisara’s grin at Romanoff’s name being crossed out was vicious and shark-like, the AI had _really_ hated that particular Russian woman. Her expression went blank for a while before turning to Seto.

“Hey, Seto, there’s an Aгент Alena Petrov on the phone for you, she wants to speak to you on behalf of Russian intelligence, she sounds pleased.” Kisara grinned and Seto found his own grin sliding onto his face. He guessed what this was about, how he’d helped take Romanoff’s ego down several pegs. Seems she wasn’t as respected (or feared) as she liked to think, nor was she ever as needed as she felt she would be. Nobody had forgotten her words at the hearing for the DC incident, and she’d been taken up on it, much to her horror and irritation.

“Patch her through Kisara.” He nodded and, if anything, her grin became wider.

“Mr Kaiba?” The woman’s accent was thick (although not to the point that it was unintelligible) but her tone was pleasant.

“Speaking, I’m assuming you are Aгент Petrov. What can I do for you?” He asked. The woman laughed.

“You are correct, I’ve been tasked with passing on the thanks of the Russian government. Thanks to your help, one of the last members of a Russian HYDRA cell  has finally been apprehended. We can now question her about any other possible members from other HYDRA cells.” Aгент Petrov replied and Seto was surprised.

“She was HYDRA? How did noone know this?” He asked.

“She was, although probably not willingly. Many young girls were abducted by HYDRA agents and put into the Red Room program, before being convinced that they were training to work for the Russian Government. HYDRA members within SHIELD hid their involvement, it’s taken us this long to finish going through the Data Dump files.” Aгент Petrov replied.

“What will happen to her after your questioning? Just for my own curiosity, of course.” He asked and he heard another huff of laughter.

“That depends on her cooperation. She’s certainly not being released, Russia is still a part of the world and she was rightfully sentenced by the ICC courts. But, if she cooperates fully, then there will be no more charges heading her way and she might even see her situation within the prison improve. She would certainly not be the first woman who was not charged for what happened when she was abducted by HYDRA.” She replied.

“It sounds like you’re speaking from experience, Aгент Petrov.” He said carefully, a suspicion building in his mind.

“I am, Mr Kaiba. I was one of the last, and youngest, girls that HYDRA abducted. I was also the first to come forward.” She replied, and Seto felt strangely pleased that those women weren’t necessarily being punished for things beyond their control. Had Romanoff been in danger of being persecuted for being abducted, it would have lessened his triumph significantly. Now, he could devote his time to helping Kisara investigate the next name on his list.


	7. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James Barnes is woken up...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so we're finally at the James Barnes chapter. Please don't forget to fill out the survey in the previous chapter so I can try to improve on this. I'm trying to see how I'd fit the responses in this universe, although there is one that I've addressed here. I know it's kind of short but there wasn't much needing doing in this chapter.

**_Chapter Six_ **

Sometimes, things just didn’t go the way that he would have liked. Seto wanted so desperately to be angry with James Barnes for how he had helped Rogers beat Tony half to death and then abandoned him in Siberia, not even touching on what he did in Bucharest and Berlin. But all the evidence that Kisara had dug up and collected, that he himself had gone through, pointed to him suffering from some very difficult psychological issues. From what the psychologists he’d spoken to had said, he was most likely suffering from PTSD with a strong feeling of displacement. There was even the possibility that the Winter Soldier had become a secondary personality that would reemerge during times of stress. As a whole, it was a mess and Seto couldn’t really bring himself to plan a revenge upon the poor man who, while being the longest serving POW, had been tortured almost beyond human comprehension.

Of course, how far Seto would go with helping him wasn’t the most immediate concern. He was still within Wakanda’s borders and all attempts by the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without borders) to have someone assess his welfare and mental state had been rebuffed by the Wakandan King. He refused permission for _anyone_ to enter his country, or be given access to Barnes, stating that if anyone came for Barnes then his country would be ready and refused to listen to any explanations of what they wished to do. In his opinion, Barnes was fine because he was back in cryo suspension once more at his own request. Shuri, of course, blew that out of the water in an interview with the world presses:

 

> _“He had given_ **_me_ ** _status as his medical proxy as, not only was I sufficiently outside his situation to be objective, but I also had the determination to improve his situation. That my brother is insisting that Sergeant Barnes can be left in cryo suspension indefinitely is particularly worrying, especially considering we have no idea the amount of damage that the cryo suspension could be doing to his system._
> 
> _“It was only ever intended as a temporary measure to ensure that nobody could take advantage of him while I found a way to help him but now, with the help of the world’s most eminent psychologists, we think we’ve found a solution for his unique problem.”_

Of course, T’Challa was refusing to let Barnes get this treatment, there’s no way he wanted to let his last bargaining chip go without a fight. It was something to ponder on later, Seto had a flight to catch.

* * *

 

Seeing Tony at the Aballān medical facility gave Seto hope that his friend would get better with time. Morgen Teg, the Aballān queen, was very welcoming and seemed determined to prove that they were nothing like Wakanda despite also having been isolated for centuries and being a monarchy; she (and the rest of the Aballāns) wanted desperately to do what was right. Already, they had proven themselves willing to export Vibranium and share their technological advances with the world while asking for very little in return; the explanation for this was very simple, they wanted to help people. From his conversation with Morgen (as he’d been asked to call the queen), Tony had very quickly become a popular figure with their scientists and engineers for his unique way of thinking. Even more, the queen herself seemed very fond of Tony:

 

> _“He has been through so much and yet still retains his purity of spirit. If he would like, I will be offering him Aballān citizenship with the Aballān Council’s full support.” She explained when Seto had asked._
> 
> _“Is that possible?” Seto asked curiously and Morgen laughed._
> 
> _“Of course it is, such a thing has happened many times in the past when people needed a shelter. Recently we negotiated with the UN that doing such a thing will just give them a dual citizenship; as an Aballān citizen, it will give him some additional advantages and protections from situations such as the fight with Rogers’ group.” She replied with a smile and Seto found himself returning the expression._

Tony seemed to be doing rather well on Aballā, although that might be something to do with the ability for him to just rest and relax for once without those freeloaders pestering him for things and calling him lazy and egotistical all the while ignoring their own egos and sloth. Seto couldn’t help but smile as Tony showed him the various little bits and bobs that he’d been tinkering with. Somehow, he thought that when Tony was offered Aballān citizenship, he’d accept it and Seto couldn’t blame the other man. Seto himself ended up drawn into the tech discussions once he’d told Tony about his powers. The other man hadn’t been too happy that Seto had hidden his abilities, but he’d understood. Rogers and Romanoff would have been wary of his ability to find information, especially with his friendship to Tony, while the others would have just seen him as more of a technical support role. The only really tense moment came when something occurred to his friend.

“Did you know?” He asked, eyes wide and vulnerable with tears pricking at the corners.

“Know what? Seto asked, confused at the question and more than a bit worried for his friend.

“About the Winter Soldier killing my parents.” He whispered and Seto’s eyes widened in shock.

“He did _what_?! When did you find this out?” He asked, trying to comfort Tony.

“Siberia, Zemo had planned it so that I’d see a video of their assassination with Barnes stood, _right there_!” Tony’s voice broke again and Seto pulled him into a hug.

“I had no idea, I didn’t spend much time at Kaba Corp HQ while the SHIELDRA data dump into was being streamed through. I’d have told you though if I had known.” He reassured his friend. He can feel Tony relax into the hug and just continued to comfort his friend.

“I didn’t think you’d hide something like that from me, but then again I’d thought the same of Rogers.” Tony said finally, pulling out of the hug. Seto stilled and fury flashed in his eyes.

“He knew? And kept it from you?” Seto asked, anger at Rogers clear.

“For about two years, he and Romanoff found out during the Data Dump. They then hid it from me and used my money to look for my parents’ killer.” Tony explained and Seto felt even more anger.

“So much for valuing truth and justice.” Seto mutters under his breath, it did make Tony laugh though.

* * *

Even years afterwards, nobody admitted to being responsible for James Barnes waking up. It _had_ to be someone in Wakanda as nobody else was able to get into the country, but equally, it was obvious that T’Challa was _not_ happy that someone had woken him up. It might have had something to do with the fact that the cryo suspension tech had been damaged beyond repair by both the person who’d set it to wake him up, and James’ own panic as he’d awoken in an unfamiliar place. Because it had been Princess Shuri (and James needed to remember not to refer to her as that outside his own mind after the look he’d been given when he’d asked about her) that had designed and built the system, nobody knew how to fix it. T’Challa kept him isolated from any outside news apart from the odd call from Stevie but, when Stevie told him that he was on his way back to Wakanda, alone, James knew that something was up.

HYDRA had given him decent hacking skills so he put them to use and finally managed to get an outside news source. The situation was not good. There were protests worldwide outside Wakandan embassies solely about _him_. Some of the protestors were demanding that he be handed over and put on trial (with a few nutjobs trying to insist that he be executed without a trial, they were shouted down immediately by those around them) while others were insistent that he bore no responsibility for any of his actions at all. Surprisingly, the majority of people were more interested in his lack of mental and physical health care and argued that until medical professionals had seen him, there was no real reason to talk about a trial or anything else.

It made James feel a bit strange to know that people were trying to give him help but T’Challa was denying him that. A bit more hacking, and he was able to sneak his way into the palace security system. He didn’t dare stay in there long, too much risk of his hacking being noticed, but he was able to catch part of a meeting T’Challa was having with a couple of his advisors.

 

> _“My king, the protests outside our embassies throughout the world are getting worse. The staff inside are questioning your reasons for keeping Barnes here. Please my king, I must ask if there is a reason we can give them to bolster their spirits.” The elder of the two advisors asked, his body language humble as T’Challa scowled at the man._
> 
> _“They dare to question me?!” He snarled and both men with him flinched._
> 
> _“My king, they are frightened. Fear makes even the strongest and wisest men behave like cowards. They are idiots; and yet, enough idiots could cause problems for anyone they foolishly blame for their problems. All of us still here in Wakanda are unwaveringly loyal to you sire, a word from you should bring those in the embassies back in line.” The second advisor wheedled. T’Challa seemed to think it over before nodding._
> 
> _“You may tell them that Barnes if my bargaining chip if the rest of the world does not cease their lies about the real source of Vibranium and continues to refuse to return all of it to us. They are terrified of what will happen should he ever be turned loose. I will threaten to turn him loose if they do not comply.” The young king responded._

James had felt sick to his stomach at T’Challa’s callous attitude towards the very real danger he posed when the Winter Soldier was triggered. That, more than anything, showed him that he needed to get out of Wakanda, but what to do?

Seto was flying back to Japan after visiting Tony when he received a call from Shuri. He liked and respected the young woman, not only had she had to deal with a horrible situation, but she had asked about Tony’s welfare and insisted that she didn’t condone her brother’s actions in any way. So Seto never minded hearing from her, and their conversations were always interesting. But this time, he was surprised by what she was calling to say.

“I was hoping you’d be able to give me some advice. I’m sure you know that Sergeant Barnes was awoken in Wakanda recently. Unfortunately, my brother is insisting on keeping the Sergeant in isolation, despite the fact that we now think that we have found a solution to his condition. Sergeant Barnes has, however, managed to hack the computer systems that my successor has implemented, and managed to contact me. We are trying to plan his escape from my brother’s custody but are hitting a brick wall. After the escapes of Wilson and my mother and I, he now has troops patrolling the borders of Wakanda to ensure that nobody can leave.

“I was hoping that you might have some ideas as the only routes out of the country are being sealed.” She sighed, and Seto could hear the exhaustion in her voice. As much as Seto wanted to leave Barnes where he was due to some lingering anger, the time he’d recently spent with Tony had confirmed within his mind that James Barnes was most definitely a victim. And because he was a victim, Seto knew that helping him escape was the right thing to do.

“Let me have a think and I’ll get back to you. It will be tricky, I know that much, but there _has_ to be a way to do it.” He replied and she let out an audible huff of relief.

Thank Bast.” She breathed.

Their conversation didn’t last much longer after that, Seto insisted that Shuri get some rest. He needed to do some planning with Kisara anyway. He _knew_ there was a solution, there had to be…

* * *

Knowing that Shuri and someone she deeply trusted were working on getting him out from Wakanda was a weight off of James’ mind. Stevie had returned and insisted to James that Tony Stark was responsible for everything that had gone wrong, including Barton making the decision to kill someone, and was now trying to find a way to permanently take the billionaire out of play. It made James rather nervous to be around his former friend if he was honest. And yet, he hid his true feelings so that nobody suspected a thing.

When one of T’Challa’s guards (no longer the Dora Milaje but male warriors in their place) came to escort him to a meeting with the king, James was frightened that something worse was about to happen to him. But, he found that he was due to be taken to a meeting in the Hague with T’Challa and the hope started to rise within him, if he was no longer in Wakanda then he had a chance to get away. Even better, Stevie wasn’t coming with them just in case the world realised that he was staying in Wakanda again. An email from Shuri while everyone else was asleep confirmed that this was part of the plan to help him escape. It was all rather clever, the UN had offered for T’Challa to come and discuss his demands but only if he agreed to bring Sergeant Barnes with him so that everyone could see he was alright. Once there, he’d be able to escape from one of the bathrooms in the Hague that had two separate entrances. Once free, he would be able to be taken to Switzerland where experts in breaking brainwashing and programming associated with cults had arranged for him to stay in luxury psychiatric resort while they worked with him to remove the remaining HYDRA programming and the trigger words.

The plan went off without a hitch and while James _did_ have guards, they didn’t follow him into the bathroom in question but merely stood guard outside the door that he’d entered with no idea that there was another exit. Shuri hadn’t risked being anywhere near the Hague but her ally had offered to be the one to help him leave the building. James was surprised to see that it was Kaiba waiting for him, Stevie and the others had been very uncomplimentary about the Japanese businessman. They said that he was ‘as morally bankrupt as Stark’ (despite the fact that Stark was a good man from what James had been able to discover prior to the Civil War) and Maximoff insisted that he was ‘as big a monster as Stark’ because his company was also built on weapons originally. But considering he was volunteering to help a complete stranger because it was the right thing to do, James felt like Kaiba was a better man than any of the rest of them had thought.

It was easy to follow the tall and slim man out of the building, nobody seemed to be paying them any attention as they walked, something James was slightly baffled about. He was aware that he himself was a notorious figure (and not in a good way) while Kaiba was vying with Stark for which of them was the more famous. The pair of them was also tied for which was the most eligible bachelor; for James’ part he’d never really been able to decide which he found more attractive (and his sexuality was something that Stevie had no idea about, even before the war he’d said some uncomplimentary things about ‘fruits’ as he called them) but here and now, James had to think that he preferred Kaiba.

James took his first truly free breaths since the 1940s and Kaiba willingly waited for him to have his moment. There was a car waiting for them and, by the time they were settled in the back, James knew that T’Challa and his guards would have realised that he was gone. Kaiba was texting on his phone and smirked before glancing at James.

“The General Assembly know that you’ve been extracted, they’ve asked if they can have a video call with you before you get on the plane to confirm your welfare, but T’Challa is trying desperately to find you within the building. He’d been planning on using you as a bargaining chip and he knows that without you, his position is weak. Even worse for him, he knows that if he returns to Wakanda without you then Rogers is going to go on a rampage within his borders as he leaves to try and find you. That asshole’s day is going to get a whole lot worse when he realises that the General Assembly are never going to give in to his demands.” Kaiba explained and James found himself pleased that T’Challa would be having problems. After what the asshole had tried with his sister, he deserved a bit of hardship.

* * *

Seto settled back into his office chair with a pleased sigh. He had volunteered to escort Barnes from the Hague to the plane that was to take him to Switzerland for his treatment, and in the end had accompanied him the entire way as the only other option for an escort was Tony who, while physically healed, was nowhere near ready to face Barnes again. Seto had promised himself that he would do anything within his power to stop anything from harming Tony. And that meant that he’d had to remain with a man who had helped hurt his friend, however unable to make his own decisions he was. It was far beyond when he’d wanted to be home by the time he’d actually gotten back to his own home. Kisara hadn’t even had to ask how everything had gone, he’d started ranting as soon as he’d seen her. Being able to get everything off his chest about how he was still angry about how Tony had been left and that the Accords Council had asked _Tony_ to help escort Barnes to Switzerland without really thinking about the potential psychological effects it could have. The Council had been apologetic and easily agreed when he suggested that _he_ escort Barnes instead, his Krav Maga being useful to take down enemies. And, of course as was just his luck, Barnes was clearly interested in him. Seto’d had to turn him down and while Barnes had understood, it was obvious that he was disappointed. But considering his previous lack of agency, he was a very strong advocate of consent.

With another sigh, he pulled up his list as Kisara set a glass of whiskey at his elbow.

“You look like you need it.” She said simply. He smiled in return and turned back to his list:

 

  * ~~__T’Challa__~~


  * ~~_Clinton Francis Barton_~~


  * ~~_Samuel Thomas Wilson_~~


  * ~~_Wanda Elizaveta Maximoff_~~


  * ~~_Natalia Alianovna Romanova_~~


  * ~~_James Buchanan Barnes (?)_~~


  * _Steven Grant Rogers_



 

He’d not gotten the result that he wanted, Barnes was actually an innocent victim much like Tony and he didn’t really have the heart to blame him anymore. He was still angry about Siberia, but it was also obvious that the real blame for that laid with someone else. All and all it had been a long day, made even longer by the unexpected events and emotions from today. He felt like he needed to sleep for a week but his final revenge needed to be planned and executed quickly. It wouldn’t be long before Rogers realises that Barnes has escaped Wakanda and he was bound to start to cause issues.

Almost as if she knew what he was thinking, Kisara sighed.

“Go to bed, Seto, you’ll be able to do nothing until you sleep. I’ll monitor Wakanda’s borders.” She said and, when she refused to budge, he followed her advice. She was right, it could wait until the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to the person who wanted a James Barnes/Kaiba Seto fic, but it's not something I feel like I can work with. :-(

**Author's Note:**

> I know it was short, but I'm working on an assignment this week so that has to take priority. I didn't want to leave you guys hanging though so I posted this prologue to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you! I'm about halfway done with the next chapter so hopefully I'll manage to get it done by next week.


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